What you made me
by Admiralkirk
Summary: Eggman has gone totally crazy and turned Mobius into a barren wasteland with pockets of people left alive. In this new 'world' Fiona Fox finds herself alone but wanting vengeance for what he did to her home. She can't do it alone so now follows a lead to someone who might be able to help her. Description what's it's supposed to be now.
1. This world

**A/N Alright so this basically gonna be my idea I thought of looking at some Fiona and (hiding name for surprise factor) on google. I don't got much else to say but that some inspiration is taken from the stuff I found so ya.**

 **Anyway let's go!**

"So this was the world now, a bitter landscape where only the tough survive"

It finally happened, years ago now. Eggman went for the kill and had finally done what he wanted. He now ruled the world. What was left of it. The green planet was mostly a barren wasteland. Small pockets of Mobians survived day by day hoping Eggmans patrols wouldn't be ordered to execute them all, or hope the bots didn't find them if they weren't a registered settlement.

It all happened so fast, he seemingly stopped doing all of his usual bad stuff of wanting to kill Sonic or whatever. No he was gone for a long time and like a tidal wave his bots rose from the ground all around the globe and decimated any resistance. That was it, the simultaneous attack on the world was too much for anyone to stop. That was about 2 years ago.

Millions died and forest were burned to snuff out anyone hiding inside. Food was scarce and medicine was rationed.

Eggman said he cared for everyone who was alive if you consider the minimal amount of resources were town caring. His bots would keep the small settlements in check and occasionally would slaughter a town simply because Eggman felt like it.

What happened to the Freedom fighters? Well most were dead now, people heard rumors some were alive, especially Sonic but that might have been just hope talking.

As for everyone else most were considered rumors, hell even legends.

But the one person who had escaped the bullets, the imprisonment and executions was Fiona Fox.

Course she hadn't been a Freedom fighter for almost 7 years when those events took place. With another two years that made 9 making her 25 years old now.

How'd she survive, pretty much dumb luck actually.

Two years ago…

When Eggman made his global attack she and Scourge had once again been trying to find a way to kill Sonic and his friends. She had just been about to call in the Destructix for help when it all happened.

While planning the bots found them and attacked, they held them off for some time but eventually the two had no chance against the ever increases ferocity and numbers.

"Scourge, we need to get out of here!" she gasped avoiding a missile flying by before jumping behind cover.

Her green boyfriend grunted having taken a bullet that grazed his arm and nodded preparing his warp ring.

The portal opened and he turned to her waiting for her to run to him. She was currently just a little bit away hiding behind a tree to avoid gunfire and was about to make a run for it when another missile smashed into the base of the tree and exploded.

The explosion knocked her off her feet and she landed on her stomach wincing in pain. The ringing in her ears was painful and deafened all noise. Adrenaline made her keep going and she looked up to see the tree was crashing down on her.

She barely rolled out of the way and winced trying to get up. The tree gave her cover but while trying to get up a bullet hit the side of the bark near her. The result was a small bit of bark cracking off and embedding itself into her upper thigh.

She once again gasped in pain falling to her knees. The wound wasn't bad it was the sudden pain that kept her down, she looked towards Scourge and his warp ring finding him looking to her.

The open space between them was large and with her dazed state, hurt leg and all the bullets flying around she wasn't going to make it to him.

All this caused Scourge to do something Fiona had never expected he would do to her.

He looked away and hopped through the ring by himself leaving her behind.

She froze in place, it had been her only escape but more importantly he left her behind. He knew how she took being left behind which had been a big reason why she betrayed the Freedom Fighters. Now he was gone and only she could save herself now.

The fox forced the emotional pain to go away and frantically looked around for any possible escape.

The bots were slowly barring down on her chipping away at the tree trunk so she only had so long to escape. The next closest cover was on the far side of the trunk so she crawled that way.

The pain in her leg was slowly being nullified by her adrenaline so she prepared to dive and roll to the rock.

She was successfully able to make the dive and avoided any hits. Like she expected the bots followed her movement.

She was relying completely on luck and she slowly retreated from one cover to another hoping she'd make it to where she wanted to go.

It took almost half an hour of grueling ducking, rolling and diving. Hurting her body to make some leaps and worse got grazed twice. Once in her tail and the only grazing the lower half of her right leg.

Fiona was so tired but she was only a leap away from where she had wanted to go, a steep hill.

She panted see the run would the longest she had done so far. She looked down to her leg, which had a small stream of blood trailing down her leg. Her tail fur was slowly getting sticky and stuck together because of the blood drying in her fur.

She was sore all over yet all she needed to do was make this last run, it felt like a mile considering everything up against her.

Fiona took one last deep breath and burst forward from her cover for the edge. Bullets kicked up dirt in front of her. They were trying to scare her to stop but there was nothing to lose. She just kept barreling forward. Only a wall of flying dirt to get through and she'd be safe… well safer then now.

Before she knew it she stepped and felt no group and yelped falling over. Despite falling and nearly falling on her face she felt much more relief and positioned herself so now she'd be sliding on her back.

Down the hill she went zooming past obstacles like rocks, trees and small changes in the ground. She did her best to avoid them all and saw the approaching tree line down below.

Once she was close enough she hopped up and using her acrobatic skills grabbed a branch used the moment to swing forward and landed on a nearby branch that was able to support her weight.

She continued hopping from one branch to another eventually heading right, hoping the following bots, if they were still following, would keep heading in her previous direction and lose her.

Once she felt she had sufficiently ran she hid in a tree and rested her tired and injured body. The injuries she could easily fix thanks to her medical training using some bandages she kept with her at all time to stop bleeding.

All the bleeding had made her even more tired then she already was. It numbed her senses and reduced her awareness, a couple of times she had nearly fallen or made a mistake in her jumps.

Now she could finally rest her body and looked herself over for any unnoticed injuries. Luckily for there were none, side from some tears in her black pants and belly top. Nothing major though.

She rested and hid for nearly an hour before she smelt something, something bad. She sniffed around and looked around trying to find it's origin. Seeing nothing she climbed further up the tree knowing that if she looked up wind she might see what it was. She reached near the top, as far as she dared to go without risking a branch breaking and looked in the general direction the smell was coming from.

She gasped horrified to see a wall of flames traveling her way destroying the forest and knew she had to move again or be consumed.

Thanks to her nose she had a bit of a head start but on closer inspection it wasn't a natural fire, it was Eggman bots traveling across the lane burning anything green. That made it much quicker so Fiona climbed down quickly to get moving.

She almost didn't make it and the smoke in the air made her cough, not enough to make her pass out yet but her vision was getting blurred.

She reached the tree line but didn't stop, when the robots came out of the tree line they'd see her and call for reinforcements if she did.

So she kept running, and running. She ran for the entire day using the same maneuver from before and waited for the bot army to pass by her. Only then did she finally relax watching behind a rock that was out in the field.

With that moment to think she looked back and saw how everything was completely gone nothing but ash. She may not have been the nicest person but this planet was her home and now this entire area had been burned to the ground.

The sight made her eyes tear up but more importantly made her realize that Eggman wasn't messing around anymore.

Her anger was interrupted when she realized what had happened earlier today. She hadn't been able to think about it until now since she had been in constant danger.

She was alone, not alone but left behind. Scourge left her behind; he saw she was alive and just left. As much as she denied it she did have feelings for the green hedgehog but he obviously didn't care enough to wait for her. He left her for dead, only through luck, persistence and skill had she escaped.

Her mde her cry more knowing he had never truly cared abut her the way she had and instantly crushed all feelings she had previously had for the hedgehog. Nobody was going to desert her like that and deserve her affection. Sure she accused Sonic of the same thing but she knew the details and that he honestly couldn't save her. Scourge had outright left her behind and it enraged her.

If he ever came back she might just try to kill him.

With her emotions set and knowing that her love life was back to square one again she focused on the other injustice going on. Eggman burning the entire forest down.

"Maybe I can burn some anger on his fat ass" she growled.

With that she travelled to the nearest city she could think of.

She had no idea just how big this attack was yet and as such was horrified to see the city under attack, from the looks of it the city had been under siege atleast the same amount time as when she and Scourge were attacked.

Only now did the fox realize just how far Eggman had gone, he wasn't trying to control the world he was making it submit to his will now.

She had no chance of entering the city, the city was surrounded. There was nothing she could do for anyone who may be left in there.

She walked off hoping to find the next city in better shape, it wasn't either. Neither was the next or the one after. Fiona knew just how large scale this was now; there was no safe place now. She had been avoiding patrols for days in her travels.

She travelled for almost two weeks trying to find anybody that might be alive and as luck would have it she saw a cat running across the now destroyed landscape. From what she could tell it was a male but she followed, any interaction with anyone right now better then slowly going insane.

She followed and eventually found what she would eventually call her home. A small town that Eggman allowed to exist for anyone who found it.

The town had a giant TV that everyone had to listen to whenever Eggman wanted to announce something. She learned through his daily announcements that were broadcast to other settlements around the world, that this town was 'registered'. It was a fancy way of saying "Purposely allowing to stay standing because I need people to rule to rule the world"

Besides that she also learned that the town got weekly rations according to how many people lived there so she was forced to sign up. Although she used fake name incase Eggman saw it and tried to kill her considering her abilities and previous affiliations. Everyone in town knew who she was though; it was hard to hide your identity when everyone there knew you as a traitor.

That didn't last long, everyone was too focused on surviving to send hate her way. In fact most of the hate, bad blood and all that went away and she came to be apart of the community. Maybe not the most open in the community but welcomed.

In time she found two pistols for herself having plans of one day wanting to end Eggmans life and save everyone from this hell. Ammo was scarce but she hoarded any she could.

After the first year she took up many jobs around the town, usually dangerous stuff like sending messages from town to town. Or joining in on the small raids the inhabitants made on the food facilities Eggman had set up to send them their food and aid.

Most usually failed and it got harder and harder anyway. People died, but that was expected. She had her fair share of close calls but her skills had been increased since the day Scourge abandoned her.

Speaking of him he never came back, atleast to her knowledge, not like she cared anyway, he was nothing to her now.

Because of this she never really made attempts to get to know people, sure on occasion she'd share a drink with anyone after a raid, exchange a story or two and be at that, but never did she really grow attached to anyone.

She thought back to her old life nearly in the second year, despite her avoiding people she was lonely. Trust just came hard to her after all she'd been through.

Over the last year she slowly found that perhaps she had made mistakes in her life, soon regretting a few. She thought back to her former friends and had come to the conclusion that they truly did care for her, had she only realized that years ago.

With everything that had happened she might never see any of them again. That didn't stop her from listening in to any and all rumors of any of her past friends. All of them were scattered, totally inconsistent or too far away to follow up.

Although one night she listened into a one rumor, one that truly peaked her interest. It was the only story the continued to stay consistent, have a profile and most importantly was close enough to check out.

That was near the end of the second year, although she waited a week or two to see if the stories continued, which they did.

Apparently a couple miles from here there was an area that Eggbots frequently went missing or came up destroyed, more importantly if somebody that wasn't a robot traveled through this area they might have a chance or mysteriously finding a small cache of supplies.

It didn't sound like one of the Freedom Fighters but it sounded like a group that knew what they were doing. Considering that raids were getting increasingly harder and they apparently had supplies to go around she decided to go find this group.

In her small room she sat on her make shift bed cleaning her pistols like always. She had to keep them constantly clean or risk them jamming. She didn't use them often to preserve the little ammo she found but she would have to bring them this time. The distance was so far it would require her to travel for a day, atleast, just to reach her destination.

Her attire hadn't changed much since the day she had been left for dead; she had patched it all up since then. She was now 25 years old. The only major difference was she was older looking, a bit taller. She's gained a few scars over the year. The most memorable were the two she received the day it all started. The one on her leg and the other on her tail. To add to that she had a scar on the lower side of her stomach, one going lengthwise down her arm. Considering the destroyed world she wasn't able to tend to her looks like she had before so it got dirty.

Besides that she also carried around two combat knifes in her boots just incase she ever got into close combat. Not worth much against a robot but it had kept some male paws off her in the past.

Finally she got up taking the small backpack she had filled with a small amount of supplies to keep her sustained for the trip.

She let the building owner…

She chuckled, owner was a strong word. He was the dude who kept the building in check because he had to.

Anyway she let the guy know she was gonna be gone awhile. He was cool with that and she made her way to leave the town already having a story for the bots when they inevitably asked.

Reaching the edge of the town she was stopped by one of the guardbots.

"Halt, what is your business leaving?" it's robotic voice asked.

"I'm going for a hike, is that really that bad?" her sarcasm meant nothing to the robot and after a moment it spoke again.

"You are authorized to leave, do not travel too far or patrols will open fire" it warned.

"Thanks" she rolled her eyes but walked off to the east. She knew how to avoid the patrols it was like riding a bike; you don't forget the times, routines and other stuff.

The walk was long and depressing, being alone made it impossible to not think about how the world wasn't alive anymore, and the green was totally gone replaced by grey.

Her steps kicked up ash, which coated her boots and lower pants; it was hard to not think that some of that ash may have previously been a living person.

The only thing she could think of was who these people might be out in the wasteland standing defiant against Eggman, she wanted to do the same but didn't have the resources, skills nor people to do anything worthwhile. She somewhat hoped that the group might see her potential and make her join, if they didn't kill her first.

Like she predicted it took her almost and entire day to reach the area so she started looking around the massive area. Would she find them, were they here at all?

She wouldn't have her question answered today and was forced to sleep there for the night. The small amount of food she had was crap, nothing new there. Eggman barely fed them anyway and what he did feed them was hardly considered food, it only made her dreams of revenge better knowing she'd kill him then raid his food stocks and have a glorious dinner.

The night was cold; the only thing she had to keep her warm was a tattered blanket she brought along. She couldn't make a fire, there was nothing to burn and even if she did it would attract attention of egg bots.

In the morning she continued her search. By midday there was still no sign of anything, no destroyed robots, no food supply drops and most importantly, nobody around at all.

She was losing hope of anyone being here at all, perhaps these were just rumors too. This made her sigh and feel depressed. If this was a lie then nobody was out there fighting. All of it was lies. Fighting for food wasn't defiance, it was survival, it did them nothing to steal food from robots. It was the reason why Eggman hadn't burned the towns to the ground yet, because he knew their raids were simply to survive, any damage they caused was easily fixed or replaced.

She was ready to give up and head home.

As she walked back west she heard a voice behind her, it scared, excited her and put her on edge because it wasn't just a normal voice. It was covered by a voice augmenter making it sound deep and intimidating.

"Hold it right there"

She froze; it wasn't a robot voice not metallic enough and had actual tone. From what the apparent male said he had a gun pointed to her.

She took a deep breath and hoped this person would let her speak "Are you part of that group that fights the robots here?"

There was silence so she spoke again "I came to possibly help you"

More silence…

The silence scared her; atleast when somebody spoke you could hear their voice and tell what their emotional state was. Although with the voice modulator that was harder anyway. She still didn't hear the figure speak behind her so she was about to speak again, to her relief the figure spoke just before her.

"How'd you know what was happening around here?"

She sighed glad she wasn't dead yet "Rumors, legends, stories" she listed a few.

"So how do you think yu could help me?" the voice asked.

"I'm a skilled combatant, survived multiple encounters with eggbots and even stuff before his attacks. I participate in raids all the time too, I'll be a contribution" she was confident and collected hoping her words would be enough.

"Well considering you are Fiona Fox how can I trust you?" despite the voice filter there was obvious venom in the persons voice.

She sighed looking down, the potential hostile had ID'd her and now had an obvious mistrust of her.

"Listen that's behind me…" she was cut off by the angry voice again.

"Oh that's right, it is behind you"

"W-what?-" she couldn't ask more suddenly feeling intense pain in her body followed almost simultaneously by pain through her entire body. She screamed in pain before the surge of electricity stopped letting her muscles loosen up.

She fell over still intensely shivering from the shocking and panted heavily. On her knees now she couldn't move at all but it didn't matter as everything went black.

The figure stood over her having hit her in the back of her head with their gun and reached down to drag the fox away.

 **So chapter one, hope this chapter was good for information, I wanted to set up the world and Fionas role in it. Next chapter will reveal the mysterious figure and reveal more about them(I mean if you read some of my other work and read the authors note I'm sure you'll know who this person will be, but if not I'm not gonna reveal the second character for the story quite yet in the description until I'm done chapter 2. I'll admit fanfiction does unknowingly ruin suspense like this by allowing you to put the characters names in the description part which may ruin the surprise of who this may be.**

 **Also I think this might be confusing but the chapter starts out five years after the comics making Fiona 23, plus the extra two years makes her 25. So just incase that was conveyed properly.**

 **So I hope you guys liked this stuff and the world I'm building up, thanks for reading and let me know if you are interested.**

 **Live long and prosper**

 **Admiralkirk**


	2. Old acquaintance

**A/N Hey so no idea what people thought of the last chapter yet cause I started writing this like minutes after I posted it(I do that a lot actually) but I like it, the world seemed to have some depth… some. Secondly I wanted to say this story will also obviously gain more stuff in the description like I said before. That means there will also be another genre and another character added to the description when the chapter is out and been out for atleast a day so as not to ruin the surprises and junk.**

 **To guest: I'm a little confused on what you you were trying to say… I sort of understand but don't know for sure. Also is that second one you too, or is that another guest, if that's another guest I thank you for letting me know.**

 **Anyway now we're getting into the story, I'll set up more of the world as time goes by but what you got hopefully it interesting. This is the first time I've really ever changed the setting so drastically. So if it seems too empty let me know.**

Everything was fuzzy, everything looked white and blurry. Fiona eyes tried to adjust but it took longer then it normally would after waking up. She groaned reaching to her forehead with her right hand but it refused to move all the way. Something was around her wrist, it was tight and hurt if she tugged.

So she used her other hand and rubbed her eyes then held her head feeling pain now.

"What the hell happened?" she whispered to herself trying to get rid of this massive migraine.

Her eyes slowly started to focus now and looked down to her right wrist. Her wrist was cuffed to a strong looking pipe. She also noticed she was in the corner of a room, it was dark now that all the white had gone away.

The pain in her head was still there but it slowly went down so she looked around.

The floor was flat rock with the occasional change in it. Besides that the pipe she was connected to travelled along the wall into the dark. Besides that she couldn't see much more since the room was dark and apparently empty.

She sat there for who knows long occasionally calling out stuff like "Hello? Is anyone out there? Why am I cuffed?" eventually she was getting angry and yelled "TALK TO ME!?"

Still nobody answered and she curled up into a sort of fetal position and started to get anxious. Slowly memories of being alone in a cell by herself for hours. Remembering how she would almost starve to death continually, like Eggman wanted to see just how far he could push her to the brink.

It made her emotionally transform into her ten year old self. Tears of fear, hopelessness and despair left her eyes.

What had she done, travelled all the way out here to meet someone who just took her prisoner and left her to die? Why? Why did this person do this? That answer came quickly in her mind remembering that the figure had known who she was and probably hated her for one reason or another.

Feeling hoelessness from her flashbacks made her feel like maybe this was what she deserved after a life of betrayal, crime and murder. To be left alone until she died slowly, without food, without a friend, without anything bit darkness as company.

Perhaps this was for the best anyway, what was the point of living now? She survived from day to do for no other purpose to survive yet another day and then the next. It wasn't a way to live, perhaps death was appropriate or what she should accept.

But she then thought about something, about her situation…

It seemed oddly specific, unless it had been dumb luck who would know she feared dying this way? Plus… what did the voice say something about how one of her problems had been behind her right before she was tazed and knocked out.

The tears stopped for now and spoke out hoping maybe somebody was listening, whether it be the mystery person or someone else "You know me… by more then name and reputation don't you?"

For awhile there was no reply, in fact had she been able to see the time it had been nearly an hour. The sounds she heard were footsteps, more specifically from boots, heavy boots.

Her ears twitched round trying to spot where it was coming from but the darkness ruined her chances of doing so.

"Hello? Where are you?" she called out worried of what might come.

The same voice she heard out in the wasteland spoke up "You are right, I do know you" his answer was vague to the question she had asked awhile ago.

"Who are you!?" she asked excitedly yet fearful at the same time.

"You'll find out soon…" the voice was quiet and once again it beat her to speaking "Where did you come from?"

She hesitated, what if he went and destroyed that town too for some reason? They read her mind and answered her unspoken question "I have no quarrel with those people, just tell me"

"I came from the town to the west" she answered giving him a vague answer.

"I see… What do you do?"

"I help the town survive, I distract patrols when they need it, I run messages, and I basically call the shots during raids" she answered giving more detail then before, once again hoping if she showed use then she might be spared.

"So you are… helping other people without reward?"

Fiona rolled her eyes, this person definitely knew a lot about her "I would call survival and a place to stay reward enough right now"

The voice chuckled ""Ah well then I guess you are stuck in a position then. Can't demand anything because nobody has anything so you rationalize helping them by making survival the reward" the voice mocked her making her grit her teeth.

"Listen jackass, I never thought of extorting those people, everyone in the town works that way, you work you get paid with a place to stay and rations. I came here wanting to join you in fighting Eggman, the only reward being revenge for what he did to our home and our people" she hissed.

"YOUR HOME!? Don't make me laugh 'Queen of Moebius" the name was like slowly scratching down a chalkboard.

Her gaze feel but managed to say feebly "I haven't been that in over two years"

"So Scourge finally abandoned you like I knew he would?" the voice asked some curiosity making it through the filter.

Once again the possibilities of who this was narrowed down so she asked again "Who the fuck are you?!"

"In time 'your majesty' answer my question or suffer another round of lightning" he warned the sound of something powerering up for emphasis.

"He abandoned me when the Eggman started his attack, we were under heavy fire and when I got in trouble when he activated his warp ring he left me behind" anger escaping her teeth.

So how'd you survive?" the question was totally valid, how could a lone person survive all that?

She shrugged "I don't know to this day… luck" her answer was sincere enough for the voice.

"I see… so where is he now?"

"I don't know… I don't care…. He means nothing to me now" her voice full of anger that she was barely containing.

"What about any other former associates?" the word obviously meant her less nice friends.

"None…" this saddened her, she liked a few of them.

"Who are you?" she asked again calmly.

"Let me give you a hint. You hurt me really bad, you were my friend. I cared about you and begged you to stay but all you did was teach me a lesson I never forgot then slapped me away…"

Her eyes widened looking into the darkness knowing exactly who it was. Her mouth spread into a relieved smile then a look of fear and dismay.

She was just about to speak when something slammed on the floor and the lights turned on revealing the figure for who he was.

Standing in front of her was someone she hadn't expected to thrive in such a harsh environment. Someone who had faith in her for a long time, someone who was not this man anymore.

The fox before her was much older now, twenty now if she remembered his age correctly, the same size as her now, possibly a bit taller. His fur was yellow but dulled slightly. He now wore goggles, and light armor that looked augmented. The left shoulder having a slightly larger shoulder pad, most likely his lead arm when holding a gun. The armor was grey to match the landscape and was covered in scratches, dents and singes. The shoulder pad had some sort of insignia on it and it was a crosshair over a typical eggbot head with small letters that said "Gotcha"

If she accommodated for the armor he was still fairly small and thin under there, his shoulders not too broad but he clearly had strength he hadn't had before.

The armor also had a grey cape that extended into a small hood. The pants were cargo pants with the only armor like protection being knee pads. His shoes weren't his original red and white sneakers, now they were heavy grey boots.

His face still had his sky blue eyes except instead of child-like wonder, hope and kindness they were filled with dread, pain, and complete lack of empathy. The foxes ears were taller as expected but the left ear had a small half circle piece missing about mid way up the outer side of the ear. The other ear was pierced with a gold ring. Finally he had a visible small scar running down the left side of his face, nothing big but noticeable.

Finally the object that caused the loud noise from the floor was a thrown mask, it clearly had enhanced vision attachments and must have been where the voice modifier came from.

"Tails…?" she breathed out questioningly.

"Yes me, finally come face to face with the thing you made" his eyes bore into her like drills, anger being the most prominent emotion.

W-what… I didn't do this?" she gasped actually pushing herself against the wall in a futile attempt to get away from the hateful stare.

"Yes you did!" He hissed angrily gripping the weapon in his hand tightly. Must have been the tazer he mentioned, not typical, it was made of scrap metal and seemed to be fueled by a special batter he must have made from hand or found.

"You were the one who told me I could never trust anyone… it didn't happen immediately, no, only after a few years did I finally consider your words and realize them to be true!" He definitely wasn't the old Tails as he slowly walked towards her like a bad guy monologueing to their captured foe.

"What happened?" she was basically forced to ask.

"I started to become more distant, I stayed in my ab for hours away from everyone. I hardly spoke to anyone after awhile. Eventually on missions I got more aggressive and frequently attacked our enemies instead of just tried to defeat them. So finally all the Freedom fighters decided I was too dangerous to the team and myself to keep around"

"They kicked you out?" she asked showing sadness but he didn't care and continued.

"I didn't actually care that much, I was planning on leaving soon anyway, none of them seemed to realize how stupid they were. You don't stop a threat by defeating them, you stop them by killing them. Once they are dead they are no longer a threat. Their rule of no guns made no sense, our enemies used them. Why put ourselves at a disadvantage?" he continued to rant.

She just quivered in fear at the intimidating man she used to know as he continued on.

"I left, and continued to work, I hunted down who I could, a lot of failures, not much success…. You did this to me" he repeated again calmly.

"You didn't have to take my words so seriously" she defended herself.

"You thought an eleven year old who was in love wouldn't ever consider your words. Keep dreaming" he snarled at her for even thinking that she had no fault in his fall.

She recoiled and cowered at his snarling "Please don't hurt me" she begged tears escaping her eyes, seeing someone who had been such a young innocent boy that was now this because of her filled her with sorrow. She never wanted this, she may have betrayed them but Tails had always been a nice kid. He didn't deserve to be like this.

"Why would I hurt you?" his question clearly rhetorical "Why wouldn't I consider smacking you across the face like you did for me?" he readied his hand making her flinch but nothing came.

His chuckle came glad she was afraid of him.

Her eyes opened and she hesitantly asked "What are you gonna do with me?"

He paused, honestly he had no idea, all of this happened so suddenly. She just showed up on his land so he didn't have a clue yet. He didn't want her to know that so said "You'll find out" the smirk on his face made her shiver in fear.

He walked away silently and Fiona yelled "No wait, please don't leave me in here!"

Tails turned and snarled at her again "I'll do whatever I damn well please, especially after everything you've done"

"No,no , no please! You know how I am with dark places and being trapped" she pleaded tears streaming down her cheeks in desperation for him to not leave her. Even with his aggressive attitude he was still better the empty darkness. She tugged on her cuff, the pain was ignored as she plead like her life depended on it, which it might well be.

"I know" he said darkly to her pleas. He grabbed his mask and he spoke with the modifier "Have fun" the lights turned off and Fiona yelled out for him again.

"NO, Please Tails, let me go. I'll leave you alone. I'll do anything! Just don't leave me alone!"

There was no answer…

Four hours she stayed in their crying, praying Tails might come back. She was so afraid, the walls felt like they were closing in and that the darkness would soon consume her.

"Please come back… please come back" she whimpered this phase over and over again hoping it would somehow make him come home.

What had happened to him? He wasn't Tails anymore, atleast in mind, he was aggressive, ruthless and possibly semi psychotic. Reminded her of a black hedgehog she once knew.

"Stop crying" she suddenly heard his voice, no modifier this time.

She gasped "You're back, thank you" she said on her knees thanking him with everything she had.

"Shut up… get up" he growled as the lights came on again.

He didn't have the armor on anymore, the pants were now some torn black boot cut jeans and he wore a white wife beater., his white gloves replaced by fingerless black gloves. She could now see more of him and not only had he gotten fit since she last saw him he and revealed several various small scars on his arms.

She didn't have to time to ask as he motioned for her to get up again so she did not wanting to anger him again. She wiped away her tears with the free hand as he approached.

He un-did her cuff but had her pistol pointed at her with his other free hand.

He then motioned with his head for her to walk so she did hands up just incase. He followed behind her and stayed quiet.

She hoped she could get more information from him again so hesitantly asked "What are you doing out here?"

"What do the rumors say?"

"That you are a group of people hunting any robot that enter this area and destroy then, fighting for Mobius" she still had no idea if anyone else was here but considering the fact he seemed to lose trust in everyone he knew and explained he became a loner she found it easily plausible he was alone now.

"The that's what I'm doing" he growled, it didn't matter, he destroyed Eggman's bots and had fun doing it, whatever people thought he did was nothing to him.

"Do you even have a plan, what's your goal?" she asked.

"Fight until I die, or run out of supplies, but that won't be for awhile I got a way to keep food for myself" obviously his genius was still very much there if he had found a way to self sustain himself and still leave food out for passers by.

"What about the food for people who come through here? What's your goal with that?" She asked yet again.

"I may not be who I was back in the day but I'm still a good guy. I fight for anyone who's still alive, they need food, they get food" he explained, she was happy to hear he still had some compassion.

"Is anyone else here?"

"Technically no, but also technically yes" he vaguely explained.

"What does that mean?" she asked confused turning her head back but he pushed the pistol in her back making her look forward again.

"It means that's all you're getting"

She sighed "Where are we going?"

"You'll find out" he said sighing behind her.

She was worried he was about to take her for 'target practice' or something but she was allowed to see his sanctuary.

It was a system of caves and tunnels meaning they must be underground, various tunnels led to different places most blocked by doors so she couldn't see inside. The caves were huge and she wondered how he made all this. She didn't dare ask, she felt like she pushed her luck enough.

Finally they walked to a door and he slid the doors apart and motioned for her to go inside. She di as told and he walked in as well.

He hit a button and the room felt like it started moving up, it was an elevator from the feeling of it.

"You are going to walk home and never speak of this to anyone, got it?" he growled to intimidate her.

"Y-you're letting me go?" she asked surprised.

Tails paused glaring at her and rather reluctantly explained "You may have been a bad person but you are helping people. It'd be wrong to make those people lose such a valuable asset. You are only alive because other people need you and every life right now is far more precious then it was two years ago" he explained.

She nodded looking away and suddenly was blind folded.

She yelped but he growled "Relax, just so you don't know where the entrance is"

He pushed her forward when she heard the door open and led her away. The fox made a special note of counting every footstep and turn, she'd get back here again. He wasn't going to stop her from getting her revenge.

After a few minutes he said "Wait one minute then take the blindfold off" She nodded taking a breath hearing him drop two objects, metallic from the sound of it. After that she heard him run off and she counted to sixty, with full seconds.

She reached sixty and took off the blindfold and looked down. Her two pistols remained, she was relieved to see that and picked them up putting them back in her hips holsters.

She quickly marked the spot with a small rock pile and drew a small arrow in the dirt pointing the direction she had walked and hoped the fox wasn't watching her.

"I'll be back, whether you like it or not. I'll be back and I will get revenge" she whispered to herself.

She travelled back home needing to be back soon or the eggbots might not let her back in. The walk home was as miserable as coming here although she had a lot to think about along side it. Not good things either.

"I can't believe poor Tails turned into that?" she sighed covering her face feeling guilty.

She took a deep slow breath "No, I didn't do that, I just said a few words, he was the one who allowed himself to fall so far… not me" How could it possibly be her fault that he took her words that seriously and followed her lead, sort of.

Although she still wanted to find out more about what happened. She wondered if he knew where anyone was, like Sonic, Sally, everyone…. Anyone. Having a few more people to look into might strengthen her plan for vengeance.

For now she could only think and found her mind still on the younger fox. He had truly changed, his eyes were not the sweet eyes she stared into before she slapped him aside. He was so aggressive with barely contained anger. He probably hated her to the core considering he had strong feelings for her as a boy. Fiona always wondered if he and Sonic got past their differences on that subject after that.

Eventually she zoned out on her walk back to the town and reched it just before sundown.

The guards questioned her for why she had ben gone over a day and she explained she had been out too long and slept out in the wasteland for the night. They were so stupid they actually fell for this crap.

Checking back in with the building caretaker she told him she might be coming in and out for the next while, he didn't really care. The people of the town owed her a lot so it wasn't that big of a deal.

The sleep was crap like always, not much better then sleeping on the floor. But after two years of it that wasn't a problem anymore "In the morning she stretched her sore back and like every morning had her worthless breakfast and got ready for another day of living in this barren waste. Although today she had a plan.

She had a plan to maybe make Tails help her and avenge her home.

All she had to do was get back there and not piss him off too fast before explaining her reasoning with him.

So like always she left using a a new excuse which a bit true.

"I'm heading to the next town over to go see a friend"

Like almost always the bots accept her answer, not like they were programmed to care or even remotely protect them.

The hike was a bit better this time, she felt like she was finally making progress in a promise she made two years ago, even if it was only the first step, or maybe the second.

She tried to think back to when she realized it had been Tails yesterday. The smile, why was it there?

"Well it's not like I'd have ever expected Tails to survive out here, much less thrive in it…. And be… that thing" she spoke to herself finding she was frowning.

Once again she had t rationalize and explain to herself that what happened to Tails was not her fault, all she said were a few words and he took them literally, lost his friends and his life.

Remembering his old self was much better, the little guy was always so kind… funny to mess with and nervous around her. She knew why now after he admitted to liking her a lot. No doubt that changed a long time ago. For a short moment she felt like such an asshole, crushing him like that.

"What was I supposed to do? Take up his offer and date an eleven year old when I was sixteen, NO! He didn't seem to get that, he still saw me as the robot he fell for!" her growl filled the air.

"He kept persisting, young, naïve boy. Fighting over me with Sonic, and what? Did he expect me to just wait for him until he was a ore appropriate age, NO that's not fair!" continuing to yell at herself like she were trying to argue her actions to somebody.

"Why am I even trying to explain this to myself, any rational person would have turned him down under the same circumstances… well… you know… except 'those' people" but she wasn't one of those people.

With that she left that topic alone "Ok try to think of how you're gonna talk to him"

"First… don't provoke him, if he gets started I don't think he'll stop. So that means act passive, don't provoke him and be calm" she took a deep breath looking out over the land he resided in, somewhere out there he was out there. Whether it be in his underground lair or out finding trouble. All she had to do was make him fight her.

Entering the ground she suspected he had eyes everywhere, sensors, cameras, whatever. Something was watching her already probably.

Atleast this time she had a general direction and location to go to. The last place she heard his deep harsh voice.

She had marked her way out and hoped he hadn't been watching and removed them.

Soon she spotted a few rocks that were packed abnormally close to eachother and smiled, now she knew where she was. Continuing that way she kept finding a pill every so often until finally she reached the last one which she had made slightly bigger.

Hands on her hips she smirked and looked around, nobody was out there from what she could tell looking over the harsh landscape. The wind kicked up dust and ashe in the distance, one solace was that even when you did become part of the ash you might still travel.

Fiona shook her head getting focused and started memorizing every step she took with the blindfold on. Closing her eyes she slowly walked remembering every step and turn. Doing this for nearly half an hour she opened her eyes reaching the end and looked around.

Unlike the rest of the landscape which was somewhat flat this small area had a few rolling hills, in front of her was one that was abnormally step, this must have been the door that covered up the elevator.

She walked to the incline and started searching around her hands, a secret switch, sensor pad, anything.

"She was sure if she found a way in ails would be instantly informed and come so she was prepared for any kind of attack.

While searching she stopped feeling some dust and ash slide down the incline coating her hands slightly. Her mind took less then half a second to realize what was happening and gasped.

The fox quickly back flipped hearing an energy sound fire right as she did. The ground she had been standing on got enveloped with a quick flash leaving the ground sizzling for a second.

Fiona finished her flip and looked up the hill and saw him, head to toe in his grey battle armor, mask and hood, slowly materializing from thin air. The weapon he carried looked like a mix of scrap and futuristic parts.

"Wait-" she back flipped again seeing him fire at her again, his gun firing an orangish energy projectile causing the ground she stood on the super heat as it hit the ground.

"What did I say, come back and you die" the fake voice growled.

"I came to talk!'

"Just like last time I'm gonna tell you that it's too damn late to talk. I gave you one chance and you disobeyed my orders. Now die"

Fiona cursed avoiding another shot and running away using the small rolling hills to cover herself from his attacks.

"Fucking bullshit" she cursed sliding down a small incline as a orange projectile sailed over her head.

Fiona pulled out her own pistols and took a deep breath popping up from her make shift cover and fire off a few shots. But after firing four she realized he wasn't there.

"What…?"

Before her question could even be finished she felt pain in her side that made her flip onto her back.

Realizing it must have been Tails she continued to roll using the momentum to avoid a stop from his boot and quickly kicked up to her feet again.

Tails must have gotten faster over the years because before she could react he elbowed her in the cheek making her recoil in pain and nearly fall over again. The pain dizziness made her drop her pistols.

Survival instinct kept her in the fight though looking up seeing his weapon moving to position to finish her off. Like slowly she did the only thing she could and swung her leg straight up making an impressive that she nearly kicked her own head showing off her impressive acrobatic skills.

It succeeded in kicking the gun into the air out of his hand but he just stepped forward catching her leg on his shoulder before it could come down.

She gasped realizing he had full control now and after feeling the smirk through his mask felt his hand wrap around neck. During that he snuck a leg behind her second leg and pushed forward taking her down with a choke slam that knocked the wind from her lungs.

Pressure clamped on her neck making her gasp for air.

"Please…"she managed to gasp out with the little air she had but he was having none of it and continued. The hate burning through his mask.

Thinking quick with the very limited oxygen she had left since it had been knocked from her she realized her leg was still propped on his shoulder. From a third person it looked actually kinda awkward but it set her plan in motion.

Using both her hands at the same time she smashed down on his elbow like a hammer making his grip loosen up on her neck giving the precious air she needed to get through this. With his arm bent he fell forward slightly from his weight and gave her the opening to pull up her other leg to his shoulder level.

Then she grabbed his wrist tightly with both hands as her body twisted to the left fro a second so she could get the leverage she needed and shifted her legs to now be across his chest.

Finally she yanked with her hands and lands making him roll to his back and force him into a near escapable arm bar.

"He could hear him grunt in pain as his arm was pulled to its limit and Fiona took another breath to finally making the blurring go away.

"Fuck you bitch" he cursed having no option to fight her.

"Now listen to me" she grunted fighting back any resistance he tried .

"No!"

"No choice Tails"

He heard him growl in rage but she continued panting "You need my help, I need your help. We both want to kill Eggman for what he's done, we may not like it but we need to work together"

"I'm not working with you, EVER" he tried to resist her arm lock but only received another near breaking tug from her.

"Listen, calm down. I know you want justice for what he's done, just like me! I promised I'd kill hi two years ago and I can only do it with your help. What do you have to not trust me? I have no idea where anyone of my old contacts are and why would I come back with such a stupid plan and be alone if I didn't seriously want to help"

"I bet you'd like to stab me in the back and take everything I have down there, no way" he growled.

She growled back rolling her eyes and thought quickly "How can I prove I'm legit?" she asked desperate.

"Kill yourself" he chuckled back darkly.

She tugged his arm a bit further make him yowl in pain, which with his fake voice sounded weird.

"Talk like that again and your arm is broken" Fiona warned.

"You want to prove yourself?... let me go" he said an obvious smirk on his face under the mask.

"Now I need to trust you?… we'll make this a trust exercise" What else did she have to lose? If they stayed like this eventually she'd have to break his arm to escape which would end in him never trusting her again and possibly killing anyways. Or let go and be killed anyways, or if all things went well let go and hopefully he'll take up her offer.

She took a deep breath and as soon as she let go she rolled backwards and quickly got to her feet expecting him to retaliate.

To her surprise he slowly got up massaging his arm. No hostile action yet, that's good.

She was still panting as was he from what she could tell and both stared eachother down. She had no idea what he was thinking, but she was worried if she moved before him he'd consider it hostile or running away and attack her.

His ears, which stuck out of his hood through two holes, twitched obviously thinking. Fionas eyes looked around noticing that Tail's gun had fallen right next to him in the confusion and realized her first pistol was a few very excruciatingly long feet away. If it was a race to who could arm themselves first he'd win with ease.

But he never dove for it and never got hostile, although his stance still stood ready his voice was finally heard "You want to prove yourself?"

"Of course" she panted hoping this was what she had been hoping for.

"I need supplies. Stuff that come from Eggmans bots, power sources, parts, armor, whatever. GO out there and take down patrols and steal anything you think is valuable. Deliver right here and then leave" he explained obvious distrust in his voice.

"Can I get that in writing, like specific items?" she asked wanting to get exactly what he needed instead of waste her time.

"Fuck no, I almost don't want to waste a bullet on your ass right now, guess and hope you get it right" Tails growled through his mask.

Fiona rolled her eyes but that was a better option then being dead. She also fully understood this could be him using her now; he'd never go along with her plan he just wanted to scavenge parts for him for no reason.

"Once I delivered it all wheat will happen?"

"Assuming I'm still feeling this generous later after so many drops, I might consider your offer. For now, get out of here, only return with parts. If you don't I take it as your spying on me, if you try to get into my base again I will kill you" he warned.

Fiona nodded "Get parts, drop them here leave, got it" recapping so he knew she understood the rules and there'd be no miscommunication later.

"No go!" he shouted obviously barely able to let her leave again.

"What about my weapons?" she asked pointing to the closest pistol.

He had a plan for that and slowly walked to both still staring her down for any hostile action. He reached down for both and slid the clips out then pulled back both chambers making the sure they were totally empty then tossed both to her.

That annoyed her, that was two clips down the drain on her limited supplies. Atleast it was better then not having them at all.

"Leave now before I regret letting your traitor fucking face leave again" he growled.

She nodded walking away trying to act unfazed by his comment but frowned when she turned. Now putting total trust in him.

When nothing shot her she quickly turned holstering her empty weapons to ask how he seemingly appeared earlier but just like how he magically appeared he was no magically gone.

Fiona sighed continuing to walk out of his territory and wondered "How am I gonna transport bot parts here effectively.

She had a long walk to figure that out and so headed home massaging her neck realizing ho close she had been to blacking out and dying. Besides that she must have swung her leg wrong and pulled a muscle because now it hurt and she had a slight limp in her step.

"Just great, got to walk home in pain like this" she complained to herself. It hardly stopped her already trying to figure out how she was gonna get heavy metal, scraps here with relative ease.

 **So I thought leaving it there would be a good spot. Hope this chapter is fun and that you were surprised by the mystery person being Tails.**

 **Also just because I know people praised me before for slowly making characters morph into what I want them to be from my first Sonic story instead of suddenly making them act differently I just want to say that hope the small backstory we got from Tails was enough to explain his downfall. I'll explain more in depth later but for now that's all you gonna get. With that I hope like this New Tils and if you are still iffy on him right now then I'll do my best to keep him hiw I want him but still make him enjoyable**

 **Second I want to say I have no clue what happens in the comics besides what I've researched so far. I specifically looked up Fiona(obviously) so I could get to know her and her experiences. Hence why I knew she could call apon the Destructix in chapter one.**

 **What I don't know is specifically one line in this chapter. I mentioned that Fiona compared him to a dark hedgehog she once knew(this reffering to Shadow of course) I want to know was Shadow part of the main Comics or was he one of the spin off or alternate universe comics? And if he is in the normal comics did he and Fiona ever meet or even know of eachother at all. Besides that in general let me know if I messed up anything like that, whether it be I messed up plot slightly, got events wrong and other stuff.**

 **Also hope their little fight was enjoyable and easy to understand.**

 **Finally thanks for reading like always, your views, reviews, criticism and praise are always welcome (as long as it isn't rude) and I appreciate it because it only makes me a better writer. Plus if you like the story I need to know because if not I might find this a waste of time.(That's not a threat it's stating facts, that's just how it is. Why write when nobody wants it)**

 **Live long and prosper**

 **Admiralkirk**


	3. On the inside

**A/N So here'c hapter three, having fun wit this o far, I personally like experimenting with this new Tails, he's kinda like Shadow except more hate filled… and slightly more animalistic.**

 **Anyway it's fun for me to do this and if anyone is like "Omg you changed Tails to this psycho" well…. Idc. Cause given some patience you'll learn he still has Tails qualities. For now I'm thinking of future ideas and I'm slowly getting a full story worked out, obviously I got end goals but the filler in between needs to be thought, the adventure to the end and blah and blah.**

Fiona had been collecting parts for Tails determined to prove she meant what she said. It wasn't easy though and required a lot of care. Everyday she was out trying to find an isolated bot and make a move.

To conserve on ammo she had discovered another way to incapacitate them with only her knifes. She found a way to basically shut down the bots ability to move by jamming the knife into a spot that held their coordination would essentially make them useless and then she'd tear them apart with some borrowed tools.

Getting the stuff to Tails was a bit frustrating but she found a way. Basically involved some salvaged wires and some smooth metal, she would pull the parts on it through the waste. It was small and the parts were heavy so it took a lot of time to transport them. It already took her nearly a day to get to Tails, now she had to pull this stupid thing with heavy crap on it. Plus because they were heavy it made extremely hard to pull more then just a few so she was constantly making a lot of trips always having leftovers to get afterwards.

Needless to say she was constantly sore and tired but the desire for revenge kept her moving and fueled.

She was glad the parts were atleast disappearing every time she came back so Tails was taking them. She did this for nearly a month. With no response from Tails. She was starting to feel used.

So this time she had a fun surprise that might tell her just how fast his reaction time was after she left. It was mostly a stupid prank cause she was bored and wanted to let Tails know she wasn't gonna give him this stuff without some payback.

The fox slid the supplies up to the normal place and started unpacking the five items, two power sources, a bunch of joints, built in weapons, and finally some memory chips. It was more then she normally brought because she wanted to really entice his appetite.

Finally inside the mess was her little surprise walked away trying to act casual dragging her makeshift sled away.

After five minutes of walking she was nearly to where his borders definitely ended and heard a loud bang behind her. She smirked and looked back seeing a small cloud of white spoke come over the small hill she had just passed and said to herself "That'll make you think twice eh?" she chuckled to herself.

She may not have been nearly as close to being as technically savvy as the two tailed fox but she knew a thing or two. Over the week she had collected parts and build a makeshift smoke bomb. Totally harmless but she wished she could see his face when he pulled up the first item and activated the trigger via small string.

She walked home with a rare smile on her face.

On her next visit there was something left for her at the drop point, a small note that simply said "You bitch…. You got me" It made her laugh as she got rid of the stuff she brought for the fox and hummed a tune.

Hearing a noise that wasn't made by her made her jump like and aim her pistols in the direction and saw the fox standing their. Despite trying to not look menacing, his armor, and past anger made it hard for her to drop her guard.

"Relax" he said taking off his mask and allowing her to see his face. Although his voice seemed bored like he didn't want to talk to her.

"Not gonna kill me for what I did?" she asked suspiciously.

He rolled his eyes "I'll admit, I didn't see it coming and I was pissed at first…. But I guess it was kinda funny" he didn't smile though.

Fiona holstered her two weapons and asked still unpacking the stuff, she suspected he wanted her gone fast like always "So can I ask you something?"

"You can ask, doesn't mean I'll give an answer" he said watching her.

"What's all this stuff going towards?" turning to face him from her crouching position.

"Not for you to know right now" he said intimidating enough to let her know not to ask again.

"Ok then…. So…. What'cha been up to?" she asked making small talk.

"We're not friends" the male shot back coldly.

"Hurts my feelings" she jokingly responded to his rude response.

This only caused him to growl "Trust me when I say I wish I was hurting you far worse"

She frowned looking away, it never felt good that he was threatening her in such a way. It meant he was barely able to control himself and that meant whatever he was ding with her might be a long trick. She hated not knowing what he was thinking, he was predictable back in the day now he was this whole new person who wasn't nervous around her anymore. He was cold confidant and had a raging fire in his eyes all the time.

"She as almost done when she heard his voice try to start a sentence but trail off like it wasn't a good idea. It caught her attention so she looked back again, he was quiet a moment as his grey cap slightly moved from the breeze.

She was about to turn back but he finally spoke "Do you do anything besides this scavenging now?"

The question was unexpected, he actually wanted to ask her something? "Well I guess if you call eating when I can, and sleeping as other stuff, then yes" her answer was joking but confirmed that she was doing this as much as she could.

"Does anyone in town know?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

She shook her head "Nope, I keep everything quiet, I don't keep the parts near the town. I got them all stashed somewhere to be taken here"

He nodded to that as well.

He was quiet but was clearly thinking and said "Bring whatever you have left here as soon as you can"

Fiona spun around like lightning to face him again and questioningly asked "Wait… like… don't collect more?"

"Yes" he grunted giving no other answer.

She didn't realize it but her tail wagged once or twice kicking up dirt and said "Yes sir" saluting for emphasis.

It made him just roll his eyes "just get it done" then placed the mask back on his face. What came next finally explained how he seemed so ninja.

The entire suit slowly faded away starting from the middle of the chest them moving outwards until he was completely gone.

She whispered to herself "Active camo, explains a lot"

That wasn't what she was thinking of that much since he was seemingly done making her do this manual labor. If that meant he planned to kill her, continue using her for some other reason or finally start their plotting she was just excited he spoke to her and gave her a new order.

Those next few days went really slow cause she was so excited and fearful of what he had planned. It made it hard to sleep too, all she wanted to do was get these last few deliveries done and end the suspense.

So finally the day came and she, instead of unloading all of the remaining stuff, waited. In just a minute or two Tails appeared sliding down a hill and nodded to her so she nodded back.

He silently motioned for her to follow him so she obediently did. They went the same direction shed gone to find his secret door so she was expecting a more positive outcome, that calmed her nerves and soon they were both at the same hill where he'd nearly killed her days ago.

"Turn around" he ordered.

She guessed it was to hide how he activated the door so just nodded and did as was told.

While facing away she heard him fiddle around with something and after a moment heard a beep and the movement of sand and dust.

She assumed that was her queue to turn. Her guess was right seeing the door behind the sand and dirt slide apart like an elevator door and Tails motioned for her to come in. The elevator barely fit the two plus the sled and that was only once she sat on it.

She was quiet looking down hoping that if she just stayed quiet and he wouldn't get angry at her much.

He too stayed quiet looking forward with a thousand mile stare. The only movement he made was to uncross his arms to scratch his ear.

The doors slid open and once the male fox took the lead she followed pulling the small sled still.

He finally spoke "You can leave that stuff here, I'll get to it later"

"Thanks" Fiona nodded to him but he just grunted and shrugged in response.

Once again following the male she looked around, actually having time to look around without a gun in her back made things easier. Most doors were closed like before but a few were open to reveal small views inside.

One looked like it led down a tunnel to who knows where. Another seemed to be something like a kitchen, and a third seemed to be a rec room.

None of those were important right now as her lead opened up a door and walked inside, she followed silently.

She gaped looking around at what was inside.

Several computer screens, probably around fifteen, plus even more screens with different signals, radars and other random stuff.

Tails sat in the single chair and started typing "Anything happen while I was gone?" he asked. This confused Fiona as a quick look around revealed no other person in there besides him and herself.

To her surprise a warm caring female voice spoke "Nothing dear, a small increase in wind that' about it"

Fiona hesitated to ask but did anyway "Umm…. Who's that?"

Tails chuckled "Remember, you asked if anyone else was here? Do you also remember my answer?"

"Technically yes, and technically no?" she said mimicking his words.

"Correct, say hello to Mum" he spun in the chair to face her.

"Mum?" the female asked.

"Yes, Mum, I am programmed to be as close to Miles' mother as I can" the female voice spoke again.

Fiona felt some sadness in her chest, had to be really lonely and messed up to make an AI of your mother.

Although she smiled and said "Well cool, what's she do around here?"

Tails started listing "Monitoring systems, monitoring sensors, cameras. Fix food, a whole bunch of other stuff and also keep me company"

"Don't forget offer guidance as well Miles" Mum added.

Tails rolled his eyes at this but Mum snapped "Don't you roll your eyes at me, we have company!"

"Yes, I know Mum" he growled then pressed a button.

"Don't you dare mute…!" apparently he could mute her.

Fiona frowned "That doesn't seem very nice Tails. She just wanted you to be kind"

"What do you know about nice?" he hissed at her but turned and continued typing.

She rolled her eyes at him and stuck her tongue out as he continued to look away and asked "Can I look around?"

"Only the open doors" Tails said still typing.

Once again she rolled her eyes. There were only three or four days open so it'd be a short walk around.

"Alright, your house your rules" she sighed walking out of what she guessed was the control room.

Walking through the cave she visited all the open doors. He must have planned all this, knowing she was coming when she delivered the parts. Since every open room was harmless and carried no potential secrets.

In the kitchen she debated taking something, she was starving, two years of constant starvation made her so badly want to take something. Unfortunately for her, she knew that stealing wouldn't put Tails in any better a mood. Her hand very hesitantly moved away from the cupboards and fridge with a sigh and walked out so as not to temp her any further.

Next was that rec room she noticed earlier.

Inside was everything a rec room might want, well it was more like a man cave. Tons of old movies next to a TV that also had a well-kept game console alongside it. Obviously cable wasn't around anymore so she guessed that only the movies and games could be used.

In front of the TV was a single chair, looked like Tails expected only himself to be there.

Further inside was a poll table. She never knew he played pool. Course a lot of things had changed since then.

At the other side of the room was a bar.

"Damn I could go for a drink" she mumbled to herself. Once again she told herself not to but walked inside anyway.

She looked behind the bar and looked at everything he had though didn't touch anything. She had some paranoid delusion that every single bottle and can had a sensor and that if she moved it he'd find out and assume she was stealing.

"Hmmm, some good stuff in here. Wonder where he got it?" she asked herself.

"He got most of it before all this doomsday stuff happened" Mums voice said.

Fiona looked up and around the room like somehow she'd see the person making the voice and asked "Didn't you get muted?"

Mum laughed "Yes, but in that room"

"Oh I see" the fox nodded.

"I apologize my son is so…. Cranky"

Fiona sighed and sadly said leaning on the bar "He blames me for who he is now?"

"…Yes… do you believe so?"

"NO! He was the one who allowed my words to change him. It's his fault" she defended herself.

"Yes… his fault. His fault that you had such leverage on him back then"

The fox sighed but stood by her beliefs. If he changed he allowed himself to change.

"What is your actual name, I don't want to call you Mum all the time" Fiona asked.

"Rosemary"

"Nice to meet you Rosemary" Fiona finally properly greeted her.

"I've heard a lot about you Fiona… lots of bad things" her voice was of disapproval.

Fiona had no doubts that her memory banks were filled with only negative feelings of her "Ya, what you think of me?"

"I think there's something in you that made you work so hard for his trust" Rosemary said, she had thought hard about her answer even though her response was near instant. Advantage of being a computer.

"Yes, because I need his help to complete my ultimate plan of killing Eggman for what he did to our planet" Fiona growled.

"Quite a goal but I meant something else. I watch the security cameras all day and after careful consideration I think you wanted to gain Miles' trust for other reasons"

The foxes face showed heavy confusion but it became defiant as she asked "Ok so then what do you think it was?" disbelief in her voice.

"Before I answer, tell me, are you socially connected to anyone back where you live?"

Fiona knew what she was getting at from that question. She rolled her eyes, she wanted to lie but something told her the mother-like personality would catch her. So with a heavy sigh she admitted "Not very much…. Odd are they'll just die sooner or later, or I will"

"That's a pretty morbid way of seeing it. But what did you feel first seeing Miles?"

Fiona sighed and looked away, technically she couldn't look away from a voice that came from seemingly nowhere but it was subconscious "I felt…. It felt good to see him… but then I realized where I was again, what he had been saying and what he had become. I was scared of him"

The motherly voice only hummed like she knew more then she was letting on. The fox might have asked what she was humming about had the conversation been less personal but it seemed with that answer Rosemary was done questioning.

"Well Miles just finished what he was doing so, we can talk later" her voice said. The echoes of footsteps coming outside the room due to the caves echo.

Fiona tried getting the conversation with Rosemary from her mind as he walked in and stopped at the door "So you like my lair so far?"

The female eyed him but replied "The little I've seen I can't really judge"

"In due time" Tails said crossing his arms "Head back to town, I'm sure the eggbots will be expecting you. Stop again soon and I may let you in" he started walking back into the main cave area presumably to show her out. Apparently he had that much kindness.

Fiona followed and asked "You are gonna help me kill Eggman right?"

The yello fox stayed quiet for a moment but finally said right as she expected to never get an answer "I'm still deciding"

She smiled slightly happy she was getting somewhere then asked "Hey your arm ok, I did wrench it pretty far?"

He grunted "I'll be fine, worry about yourself" obviously he didn't want her worrying about his safety, to him it may be just because it was her and he really didn't trust her at all.

"Well… I guess I'll see ya around, then" she almost thanked him for letting her inside his fort but felt it would be a useless gesture and simply walked into the small elevator.

"Hopefully the bots don't catch on and follow you here" Tails said then surprisingly made a small wave right as the doors closed.

That made Fiona smile, she was getting there. Slowly taking down his barriers…. But seeing him disappear made her frown too, perhaps Rosemary was on to something, maybe she wanted him as a friend again. She never said it but she had clearly been thinking it.

The door opened again to reveal the outside world, the air tasted bad now that she had spent time in Tails' clean and well kept hideout. It almost made her gag. But worse she was reminded of how Eggman destroyed her world again and all empathy and thought of reconciling with her childhood friend ended, vengeance was all that was her eyes now.

But that was so far out of reach still.

 **Ok so it's been awhile and that's for the same reason as last chapter…. Or was that the oneshot I released recently?... anyway League is taking up my life cause it's the only thing I find interesting now. I work night sleep in the day and the time I do have feel incredibly short. To add to that League has it's claws around me because I'm finally starting to (Slowly) get better. So I'm sorry for the delay. I'm also sorry this chapter is short I wanted to get some stuff by and junk plus keep this story in peoples mind. But if you don't like it let me know because I hav a feeling this isn't as good as I originally thought it would be.(Not that it's my self esteem or anything it's just now that I've started there's a lot of obstacles I still haven't found a way around quite yet.**

 **But thanks for reading anyways and let me know what you think.**

 **Live long and prosper.**

 **Admiralkirk**


	4. Wait until this is over

**A/N So here's Chapter four, finally got around to starting this. Since that last chapter my life has changed much, still working night shifts which screws my days up, I still play games though on Xbox one more often now(Cause I just got that) and that's about it. Also like last chapter I've been trying to think of ways to bring this story forward. I got some milestones and ideas(like always. Just need to get through some crap to get there. So here we go.**

Life continued on, Fiona returned home and resisted the urge to dismantle one of the egg-bot guards. She also needed to find something new to do with her time. Now that Tails didn't need her scavenging anymore it allowed her a lot of free time. What'd she do before that, god it felt like forever since then.

"Right I walked around and maybe got into conversations with anyone" she spoke to herself walking to her small shack that she just barely considered home.

Speaking of people, she and Tails weren't going to be able to take down Eggman by themselves. Who else could help, yet still be useful. It tempted her to recruit people and use them as cannon fodder. That was her old self talking. No there were too few people left to be used as bullet sponges.

"So who could actually be useful?" she said.

Running through the people in her small town she started trying to find skills that might be useful. It sounded egotistical but she was the most skilled fighter here. Above all that she did most of the dangerous work here, it surprised her that the bots hadn't kicked her out yet or tried to gun her down.

"Ok so there's that rat, he's quiet… but he's a little loud… and crazy. The green hawk… no he's a loud mouth and cocky… and stupid. How about that big guy at the bar… no he gets angry easy and a bit dull"

Fiona sighed in annoyance, all those people were useful when it came to food raids but this wasn't a small food storage camp, it was Eggman's fortress. They be killed and die. Not even useful deaths.

"I hate to say this but I wish I knew where the freedom fighters were" she whispered.

She'd heard tons of rumors about various fighters, but that was just it, rumors. Then again anything she could hear wasn't that far. Not many people travelled from place to place and whoever did couldn't or wouldn't go far. If any freedom fighters were alive they were too far away for her to hear about it.

Then she hummed in thought "I wonder if Tails has any clues, we don't even need the freedom force, any vigilantes out there, anyone who were more skilled then the average person.

Sadly she had been moving around so much and been out of town so often she guessed that she was raising attention. Daylight was not the time to go and speak to Tails. Probably didn't want her around for a day or two atleast anyway.

"Guess I need to waste a few days before seeing him again"

So that's what she did, for the next few days she got back to the normal routine. Listened for any news, checked to see if anyone needed anything done. Just a quick job that involved getting a hold of some scrap and a few parts only from egg-bots. Due to her scavenging that was simple work and she had what the guy needed by the next day.

Besides that she hoped someone would pass through town who looked like they could handle themselves. That was fruitless so after nearly a week of patient waiting she escaped the town during the night and headed for Tails' underground lair.

Hours later the sun was peaking over the horizon. The fox entered his territory and went to where she normally dropped her stuff. Expecting to wait a bit she sat on a rock and waited leaning on her arm.

That got boring fast and she looked herself over, the last two years weren't kind. Like always her boots were coated in ash, so normal she didn't bother to clean it anymore. Her black pants and mid drift had been ripped and mended a few times over. Her fur was dirty and covered in dirt causing it to clump up and mess it up in various places.

To pass the time she picked at that stuff, some were easy, some were hard and hurt her nails. Oh gawd her nail had become dirty. That caught her attention and she instantly stopped picking at her fur and scratched away gunk under her nails.

"Damn it's tough" she growled finding it infuriating how stubborn the stuff was.

She helped it a bit but it was too stubborn to fix any further so she picked at her fur again. When she couldn't pick at anything else that wasn't too hard or hard to reach she sighed and tried to think of something else to do.

She thought of an old movie she remembered and smiled at something the little blue creature used to do. She dared herself to try and stuck her tongue out and tied to touch her nose. Sadly it was just barely too short but she continued to anyway.

"Dammit, just a bit further" she growled at herself until she heard someone clear their throat.

Blushing she sucked her tongue back into her mouth and looked forward to see the now familiar armored fox in front of her.

"What are you doing?" he asked eyebrow raised awkwardly.

"Trying to pass the time" she crossed her arms trying to act cool.

He shrugged his armor making small noises as he shifted his body "Why are you here?"

She then smiled and said in a slightly girlier voice than normal "I thought my presence might brighten your day" hopefully joking would help break some tension, but she also found it easier to play around with a friend… well… ex-friend.

"After what I've said to you and you think your presence makes me feel better?" he growed slightly but made no motion to attack.

Fiona huffed rolling her eyes "Right…." Crossed armed and aldo crossed her legs and waited for a moment before asking "I came wondering if you know of any rumors of any professional people who could help us take down Eggman. The small network I have doesn't stretch too far"

He visually thought and said "I'd have to look at my intercepted transmission folder but I rarely get word of any real trouble makers"

"Which reminds me… and I know you left them a long time ago but do you happen to know of any locations of the freedom fighters?" leaning a bit closer like it were a secret.

"No… atleast not for awhile. I used to know where a few were, like Sally, Sonic, Amy and the others. But since about a year ago I have no direct references to any of them" he explained. She couldn't tell for sure but it sounded like he was sad about that, perhaps he still had a heart in there?

"Damn, that's shame. So you wanna go check for any possible recruits?" she asked hoping he was in a good mood.

"What makes you think I'm letting you in again for something I can do myself or just make Mum do?" throwing his arm off in the general direction where his secret door was.

"Fine, I don't need to come. I just wanted to see if you could do it. But I'm waiting here, I'm not walking for miles back home only come back again and get an answer" she crossed her arms stubbornly and acted like she was getting comfortable on a couch or making a groove to sit on.

He visibly sighed and rolled his eyes "Fine, come in. As much as I'd like to see it I don't need you to be gunned down by a patrol"

She inwardly smirked and said "Ok then, you're the boss" with a innocent shrug.

Heinstantly realized the mind games she pulled and groaned but since he told her to come in he couldn't turn around on that now.

So like before he entered the code, he didn't have to ask her to turn since she already had expecting him to tell her to.

Both of them travelled down the small two, maybe three, person elevator.

"So how'd you get into Eggmans transmissions?" Fiona asked.

"Pretty simple, he doesn't expect anyone to have equipment like mine so his transmissions are just a barely a step up from open airwaves. After I pick it up I get mum to translate it because it done in robot speech and then I get the orders in English" he said like it were nothing.

"Still sounds impressive" she tried to brown nose a bit but his expression told her it didn't work.

He continued to explain "I also can pick up reports and that's usually where I get the info from on this particular topic. Usually the report will either describe the problem, aka the person in question, and explain what they did" the door opened and Tails led her out.

Like before most doors were closed and locked so she didn't bother looking around. The stone walls made her wonder if she could chip her name in the wall. It made her chuckle thinking of how long it would take for Tails to notice the graffiti and how he'd react.

"What?" hearing her chuckling.

"N-nothing" she said with a smile still shaking her hand to wave it off.

He eyed her suspiciously but kept walking to the control room, Fiona followed inside and once inside said "Hey Mum"

"Hello dear, it's nice to see you again"

"Good to see you too Mrs Prower, what'cha been up to?" she asked leaning against the desk as Tails sat in the chair to her right.

"You know, just computer stuff" her voice said cheerfully. Fiona didn't know this but she liked being called by her real life name over just Mum

"Sounds like fun, you been keeping Tails away from the bad stuff on the internet?" her chuckle was delicious as Tails scowled at her as he typed. Not like the internet existed now-a-days but it was still funny.

Apparently Rosemary liked it too and laughed alongside the female fox "It seems you've come in a better mood then last time" the Ai asked.

"Ya well I got a decent sleep before I left for here so I feel better" she smiled before sitting against the edge of the desk and watched Tails work.

"Who was the last person you heard from on here?" Fiona asked.

Tails sighed wishing she'd just shut up and let him work but said "Last I heard of anyone remotely close to any of the freedom fighters or associates of them was a purple chameleon. It might have been Espio, it may not have been. The report wasn't specific enough"

The female frowned. It made sense that Espio would be one of the last, his visibility gave him unmatched stealth and survivability.

"I keep hearing rumors of Sonic being alive, that true or just hope?" her ears twitched a little in hope that they were true.

"No… nothing… not for a long time" his face was emotionless but the twitch of his ear gave away some concern he had over it. Of all the things to elicit an emotion from him, Sonics death should make him sad, angry or whatever.

"Do you miss him?" she suddenly asked.

He froze all actions, his fingers stopped typing, his eyes stopped moving and he didn't even breath.

Fiona turned away realizing he was more than likely not gonna answer but her ears tilted back in his direction when he sighed "Sometimes" it was the all he said but it was enough to show he had some regrets too. Had he not cared than he wouldn't regret leaving the freedom fighters, or atleast ending contact with Sonic.

She stayed silent thinking about her own regrets. Like ever trusting Scourge, ever feeling like he could be trusted. Perhaps she learned a lesson that day that was somewhat the same as the one she gave Tails.

You can't trust anyone…

The words burned in her mind. Maybe that wasn't exactly true. Perhaps she just put her trust in the wrong people.

With all she had gone through in the last two years her outlook on the past changed. She took the wrong choice when Tails begged her to stay with the freedom fighters, just took her seven years to figure that out the hard way.

But hindsight was useless now.

"Ok here, Mum found something" the harsh voice snapped her from her thoughts.

Fiona turned and looked to the screen bending over looking over his shoulder. He growled feeling her leaning on it so she recoiled and leaned on the table, a little less comfortable but she could see.

"It says here, miles and miles from here a town is off limits" Tails started.

"Off limits… to the egg-bots, or the people?"

"Both" he said letting that sink in a moment "The place is quarantined off" he explained.

"Ok so how does that tell us there's someone there we need?" Fiona asked find this useless o far, for all they know it could be irradiated.

"Because more reports say the quarantine was continually broken through and damaged, any attempts to proceed into the zone is met with fierce resistance and no bots ever come back" Tails said revealing more as he opened up multiple reports saying all the same things.

"We definitely have a problem there then" she smirked. She doubted it could be animals, any that were still alive were used as food and couldn't stand up to eggbots on a regular basis like that.

"Yup. Besides that there's nothing really, but whoever this is sounds like a real professional" Tails nodded already thinking of how to get in.

"We'll need to scout out the area" They both said in unison, it make Fiona chuckle but Tails ears twitched in frustration.

"Sounds like we're going on a road trip" the female smirked.

Tails groaned already hating the idea but like she said, they needed help and the person or people in this town knew what they were doing, quarantined from the world for months and still afloat.

"I'll get some gear and we'll get going" he said getting up from his chair.

Fiona waited for him, she didn't expect him to give her anything, much less allow her near his stuff so she patently waited still leaning against the desk but sat in the chair after a moment. The seat was still warm from Tails sitting here and made her sigh feeling actual warmth.

Then she started flipping through the files he had up searching for any extra info.

"It's about time someone got Miles out of here" The mother voice spoke up.

"Ya I bet he just sits around tinkering with stuff" Fiona chuckled. She guessed she was probably wrong in any finer details though considering how much he changed.

"Yes, all alone. With nothing but his thoughts to fester. It used to help him in the old days but now all it does it make him think about the past and it keeps him down. So he's deteriorated" the soft mother voice now sounded sad and hopeless.

Fiona looked down away from the computer and was about to speak when she heard the male foxes footsteps approach again.

"Take care of him" was all Rosemary said before Tails walked in.

"What are you doing?" just cautious of her touching his computer.

"Just looking over the reports, calm yourself" she said getting up and walking around him.

He growled but said "See ya later Mum, keep an eye on things"

"I have nothing else better to do dear. Be safe and try to be nice"

"No promises" he said and walked out.

"So what equipment you get?" Fiona asked him waiting outside.

"Extra ammo, trackers, my radar and GPS, heaters for the night, food and some EMP grenades" he said slipping on a backpack then threw her another and said "Too much for just me to carry"

She hefted it on her back finding it a little heavy but nothing too bad "Why thank you" she said like it were a gift, must have taken a lot to let her have some of his stuff.

"Ya whatever, come on let's go, sooner we start. The sooner we end"

So both foxes went up the elevator and started their journey.

"Which way we heading?" Fiona asked.

Tails raised his arm like he was looking at a watch and clicked a small button flipping open a small circlular hatch on the arm revealing a small compass.

"That way, West" he pointed to his right.

"Alrighty then, west we go" she said enthusiastically acting like a child simply to amuse herself.

He groaned and but followed his heavy boots thudding on the floor and kicking up ash.

"We'll have to pass by my town, remember I said I came from the west when you had me chained up?" Fiona commented skipping for a second.

"Ya so?" he asked harshly.

"We'll have to walk around it that's all" she shrugged now walking like normal and decided to stay quiet. Like she said they walked around it, she noticed Tails look at it occasionally as they walked but she didn't bug him about it.

Hours of walking was boring, but curiosity kept both foxes moving forward. It got so boring Fiona felt like talking and since Tails was the only one there she decided to bug him.

"When we get there, what do you think we'll find?"

"Some kind of resistance" he shrugged looking away across the wasted.

"Hmmm, how could they have survived months by themselves, the little town we're in definitely takes some risks and steals stuff but not enough to self sustain ourselves. Because of that we still get supplies from Eggman like normal. If he quarantined the place they either have something set up to make food or they steal much more than we do" She thought aloud wondering if the male would join in.

"I'm guessing they have something set up, there's no way they could feed that many people with just raids…. Unless there aren't that many people there" Tails threw in a thought.

"Maybe, if there are only a few then they really know what they are doing"

He nodded and stayed quiet.

It was a short talk but atleast they talked.

Fiona then started humming.

After a few minutes Tails growled "Stop humming"

"Why, I can do what I want?" she said a little annoyed now.

"Because it's annoying" he growled.

"Ya well it's annoying that you just have to tell me to stop" her anger rising. Being out for hours not speaking got her a little high strung.

"Ya well if you didn't hum I wouldn't tell you to stop" he growled back not looking at her as they both walked.

"Well I'm bored and you don't want to talk to me, so it's either me talking to you constantly or suffer my humming"

"How about neither, you just shut up and walk silently" he growled louder at her backtalk.

"Well too damn bad, things can't be all doom and gloom, maybe the melody of song makes me feel better" she said matter-effactly.

It made him quiet down, he no answer for that. Fiona didn't start humming again, her mood too down to consider it again, she was actually imagining hitting Tails really hard for being such a douche.

It got dark and Tails said "We should rest"

"Good, my feet were getting sore" after that she opened the bag.

Tails did the same and rummaged through it and pulled out a small lamp looking device. Then small bag that had some fresh vegetables inside and smiled.

Fiona stared at the green in awe "You have fresh food… that's green… and orange, and red?" her mouth watered at the thought of eating real food for once.

"Ya, I grow my own food, that's how I keep myself alive… you got your own in there" he said opening his.

She gasped and rummaged through it and found one of the bags and opened it and bit into a carrot. She purred tasting the crisp veggie and said "It's been too long"

She heard an amused snort from Tails but ignored him and devoured the carrot and moved onto a tomato "This is quite literally one of the most delicious things I've ever tasted. Two years ago this would be something I'd have taken for granted… no, it's literally the one of the best things I've ever had"

"Guess I've been living in luxury" the younger male said taking slower, cleaner bites than her.

"You selfish asshole" she chuckled jokingly. Now laying on her side propping herself up with her elbow.

"Not my fault I'm smart enough to have all this prepared" it was a little rude but he also had a point so she shrugged. He took the lamp device and turned a dial on the side and placed it between them both. Within a moment it lit up with a warm light.

"I made these before this all happened, they were originally for any possible camping trips but with the scarcity of wood they work well as campfires" he explained staring into the glow.

Fiona smiled hearing that, his genius coming in handy yet again, and hearing him actually reminisce instead of get angry at her.

"Man that's something I miss, hearing you talk about your inventions, no matter how useless they sounded at the time. Found a use for it no matter what eh?"

His eyes looked up at her wondering where she was going with this "Remember that swiss army knife you made, it for some reason had these extra attachments that seemed to make no sense, like a portable communicator in there. I argued that we have communicators anyway so it's useless… totally got burned when my radio ran out of batteries" she chuckled thinking back.

He shrugged and looked back at the fire but then looked up at the sky as the stars started to appear. Fionas gaze followed. She was about to speak but Tails beat her.

"Of all the things to change since two years ago the sky never changed. It's good to know some things don't change"

Fiona frowned and wanted to say something like "I wish you hadn't changed" but she felt that somehow that would only provoke him into blaming her for his change.

So in response she just nodded and whispered "Ya"

There was a short silence. The only noise was Fiona eating her food like a slob. Tails' gruff voice broke it "You mentioned when I cuffed you that Scourge left you behind. What happened exactly?" he eyed her suspiciously.

"Oh… I told you already, he abandoned me and I persevered and survived… though skill and mostly luck" she shrugged finishing off another carrot.

His eyes squinted suspicious, honestly she had nothing to hide but his bias towards her made him think she was hiding something.

"What?" she asked looking around awkwardly.

"That's it, nothing else?"

Fiona eyed him "What else is there to say, jackass left me for dead. Dude is dead to me now. What you want every little detail, like how I got grazed twice, bruised, and cut when I slid down the hill? Hell maybe I could tell you the exact amount of bullet that were shot at me" her sarcasm heavy.

Tails rolled his eyes though backed off and looked back at the heat lamp. Fiona watched him for awhile and asked "Ok so you seem so interested in the day I lost my last friend, why don't you explain to me how you left all your friends" she felt like since he harassed her she could harass him just one time.

"Shut up" he growled eyeing her angrily.

"No you just HAD to hear my heart breaking story again, thinking I was lying about something or leaving the smallest detail out, now I want to hear your very vague story" already predicting that he answer with very little details out of spite.

"Shut the hell up before I…"

"Before what, you try to kill me again, go ahead do it tough guy!" she dared beating her chest once.

"Don't tempt me" he growled aggressively.

"You were waiting all this time to find me and kill me, why don't you do it. Come on kill me. Unburden me of this cursed world" Fiona laughed almost like a psychotic.

He continued to growl his exposed fur standing up, and his tails poofing up.

"You can't can you" she smirked heavily satisfied seeing him flinch "Because you need me"

He growled looking away and ground his claws into the dirt.

Fiona got serious again and sternly said "So get over it Miles, you're stuck with me. Atleast wait until we're done with Eggman, then take meout because my one life goal will finally be complete"

She finished off one last veggie and got into a comfortable position and tried to go to sleep. She waited, and waited, and waited. Until finally she finally heard Tails shift in place and get ready to fall asleep as well.

She let out a breath because she was still alive, still able to dream of revenge, sweet sweet revenge. She was sure Tails was thinking of his revenge, he'd just have to wait a tad bit longer than to get his. That satisfied her and made her smirk. She had him under control, no matter how angry he got, no matter how much he wanted her dead, he needed her until the second after Eggman was dead.

"Got my passport to revenge, now I just need to fly through the rough skies" she smirked and was soon asleep thinking of all the ways she could end the fat mans life.

 **HEY HEY! New chapter done thought it came out nice, actually confident in this one(well more confident then normal) So I do have my way to the next part and I got that all planned out. I wanted to show off the tension of Fiona and Tails. Hope it was portrayed well.**

 **Not very much to say honestly, stuff and thing, things and stuff that kind of jazz. Thanks for reading and let me know what'cha think friendo's.**

 **Live long and prosper**

 **Admiralkirk**


	5. What he truly thinks of me

**A/N Chapter five , dur.**

 **So probably gonna introduce the net character into the story I have planned, and maybe the next cause I did have them both planned to appear here. There's also another fifth person I will get for sure but they'll appear a bit later. There's others but I have no idea when or where to introduce them(PS none are OC's I kinda didn't want to make an OC and risk accidentally making him OP somehow(Not like a lot of the main characters in the Sonic universe aren't OP already)**

In the morning Fiona woke first and looked around finding her companion still asleep. She guessed that he slept in more because he had the luxury and safety to afford to.

She was still a little angry at him for last night, what did she possible have to hide, what could she possibly do to betray him. She quite literally had nothing and as such had nothing to lose.

She rolled her eyes and got up and quickly stretched like every morning and climbed up the small incline and looked around. Looking in all directions she saw near empty wasteland, only the odd rock or hill.

With a heavy sigh she crouched down and drew in the ash until she heard something move behind her. With a quick glance she could see Tails getting up.

He groaned wiping away some droll from his face, that made Fiona smile before turning back to look out for any trouble.

Both stayed quiet, Tails would have accused her of doing something sketchy but the fact she was in plain view made him resist the urge. Had she left to scout the area he'd have thought she was betraying him. So he just let her continue her look out and got his stuff ready.

The male packed up his heater lamp, food and checked his weapon to make sure it wasn't damaged or had a chance of malfunctioning. His quick inspection brought no concern so he shouldered it and asked "Ready to go?"

Fiona hummed "I don't see anybody out there, so I guess so" she stood up with a shrug and waited for him to climb the small incline before following his lead.

Like yesterday the walk was boring but about halfway through the day they came across a patrol of egg-bots, neither wanted to be seen or have their movements reported so they waited while the robots passed.

With the danger gone they continued and Fiona tried to think of what they'd find once they got there. If they survived without help for a few months they must have either smart people there or lucky people. Either trait was useful right now.

She quickly looked over to her companion and noticed his eyes had glazed over, it was like he wasn't even there. She'd seen it before in so many people. Heavy thought, depression, memories. It all caused the million-mile stare. What was going on in his head to cause such a reaction? Or maybe he was just thinking hard about the same subject she'd been thinking of, who knows… well he did.

Continuing on the sun was starting to set again, but Tails continued on.

"We're almost there" he said, it was weird to hear his voice after not hearing it for almost twelve hours.

"We gonna scout the area?" Fiona asked knowing if the town was quarantined they'd need to find a way inside.

"Of course we are" he said lowering the face plate of his helmet and said with his synthesized voice "Stay close be quiet" he then dashed off kicking up ash. Fiona followed with lighter steps then him and slightly crouched to make it harder to be seen. His heavy armor didn't seen to slow him, he clearly had a lot of time to get stronger and adjust to it.

Just beyond the horizon as they ran they could see a wall rise and Tails slid to a stop against a fairly large rock and crouched to stay out of sight. Fiona quickly followed and also crouched. Unfortunately the rock may have been big enough to hide them but it wasn't big enough for personal space. Somehow behind the visor Fiona could tell Tails didn't like that. She wasn't crazy about it either after their last scuffle she really didn't want to be within arms reach of him.

Fiona watched as he just peaked over the rock and tapped a button on the side of his helmet. Inside his helmet magnified allowing him to see across the incredible distance.

"What ya see?" she asked staying low.

"The wall honestly looks like it's been broken a few times and rebuilt. Looks weak but strong enough to hold average people back. Not many automated turrets as I feared. Bots patrol the top, but they patrol in abusable intervals" He hummed in thought.

"Seems low budget, to the untrained eye this is not as much as Eggman could be doing, why keep them alive?" he hummed in thought aloud.

"So you think we can get inside?" Fiona asked avoiding his question for now. Something told her they'd get a better picture once they got inside.

"Looks pretty easy, just need to time it right and we can pass" he explained ducking down again "As I said the wall looks like it's been rebuilt several times. Perhaps that mean the people inside have some decent firepower"

"We need these people" Fiona nodded with a smirk.

"Might be good enough for me to get rid of you" Tails remarked harshly.

"I'm sure they'll trust you when you gun down your one ally" smirking again since she could play her hand well.

He stayed quiet acting like he ignored the comeback and thought of a plan. While he did Fiona got comfortable and leaned against the rock.

She tried picking at some new found dirt in her fur while she waited and flicked a chunk away. Then had to straighten her fur after messing with it.

Within a few minutes Tails had a plan and waited until the sun light was completely gone. That didn't make Fiona feel good, unlike him she didn't have a fancy helmet to give her night vision. He didn't really care like usually and said "Alright let's go, stay close if you don't want to get lost"

She nodded and stayed on his heels as they quietly approached the wall inch by bloody inch.

It was terrifying knowing her life was in the males hands. Consider his feelings towards her she half expected him to alert one of the turrets jump out of the way and have her take the bullets. So far he hadn't done anything like that.

She whispered "So how do we keep the turrets from seeing us?" only realizing this now.

He was a bit aggravated that she spoke at all right now and said "They stay inactive unless the guards see us, now shut up" the last two words he said with aggression.

She did as he asked and soon she could see the bottom of the wall just barely creep into sight. How long did that take to make that distance, nearly two hours, damn.

Her vision had adjusted to the dark by then about an hour ago so she could see Tails take off his pack and reach inside and pulled out another gun.

On a quick inspection it looked like just another weapon, which made her wonder if things were about to get loud. To her relief he pulled out a metal hooked attached to a tied up string. Now she got it.

He untined the length of rope and tied then end to the bottom of the weapon then pushed the hook into the barrel with a small click.

Both flinched and froze hearing that but after a minute they weren't dead so the male fox continued.

He aimed up and after a second to aim trying to guess where the top of the wall would be in the dark he pressed the trigger.

The sound of a piston was made and the hooked fired up into the dark. After a second they heard a small cling sound and Tails pulled. The first pulled felt no resistance but the second made another cling sound and Tails tugged a few times to test if it could handle weight.

Once it had been checked he looked down to his arm and looked to a small digital watch and said "We got two minutes to get up and over"

She nodded not wanting to waste time as he untied his grapple gun from the rope. She climbed finding it a bit hard but not impossible. Having a solid wall to lean against helped as she pulled herself up.

She felt Tails follow having got his equipment back and she smirked whispering "Better not be staring at my ass"

Like she expected he growled "Shut up"

Her mind laughed and joked to herself that his reaction meant he actually had. She quickly forgot about it and soon felt the edge of the wall and grinned. She climbed over panting and looked left and right, her limited vision made that almost useless. None the less she upholstered her pistols incase trouble came a coming.

Within another ten seconds Tails climbed over the wall and quickly grabbed the hook that was wedged into the wall and pulled up the rope. Since they were pressed on time he simply threw it over the edge of the other side and followed it down. Fiona did as he did and jumped down.

Hearing his heavy armor hit the ground got her worried but she quickly followed more gracefully landing. The wall was tall and it hurt her legs a lot to make that landing. Better then smashing her head or something.

In the darkness Tails had gathered his hook and as he ran away he tied it back together. Fiona heard his footsteps and followed the sound until she tripped over another large rock.

"Dammit" she growled rubbing her shin and hissing in pain.

"Shut up" she heard her companion hiss back leaning against the very same rock she had run into.

Rolling her eyes she quickly slid behind the rock and panted, from the climbing, running and pain.

"How much time did we have left?' she asked curiously.

"About ten seconds" he said resetting his watch.

She gulped "A little too close for comfort"

He grunted in response. Fiona wondered why they were waiting but after a short analysis it was because he was waiting for the patrol time to rest so they could run again.

She was right as Tails hit another button on his wrist and the timer started again and he got up and dashed away. She quickly followed ignoring the pain her legs.

Both foxes thought they were clear until suddenly Tails knocked down and seemed to be out cold. Fiona slid to a stop near his body and bent over to help but felt a sting in her side and very quickly closed her eyes. Last thing she felt was her body hitting the ash covered ground.

Hours later…

Fiona awoke and wondered if she had died. The first thing she tried to do was clear her vision. Blinking a few times she tried to reach for her eyes. On hand ws dead stopped while the other had heavy weight on it. Not to mention if she pulled too hard on either her wrist would be pinched.

So carefully she wiped her eyes and her vision cleared enough to see.

If she had died then Heaven had terrible greeting rooms… or maybe it was hell…. No fire, ok so far.

She looks to her hands, one was cuffed to a wall and the other was cuffed to an arm which she soon realized was Tails. His armor had been stripped from him and left him with no shirt and his cargo pants. She was sure there's was nothing inside them anymore.

It soon became apparent he was still ut so she looked around again. The room was dimly lit by a small light hanging from the ceiling and a door was opposite of the room from her.

She realized she'd had been cuffed and captured twice now in a short time and groaned. Her head was spinning and she felt around her body to find anything useful. Unfortunately there wasn't, her pistols were gone, again. But what seemed to irked her the most was her fur was covered in dust again "I just got this shit off, dammit"

With a sigh she realized there was nothing to do besides clean her fur once again and started picking away. It didn't do much so she looked to Tails still asleep. How he was still asleep when she was taken down second was beyond her since she had been sitting there awhile now.

She found herself looking him over with his lack of shirt. Damn he looked fit now. Back before she betrayed him he looked weak, young and short. Now he was intimidating, strong and confident. His chest fur had grown along with him, if not a bit over grown. He obviously didn't feel a need to groom himself as much since he lived alone. She even noticed he had a six pack appearing under his fur.

Fiona raised an eyebrow at what the fox had become ad surprisingly liked it, atleast on a physical level. He was still a jackass to her. It was only when he moaned finally waking she shook her mind away realizing she had been staring.

The male took his hand and held his head, she allowed him to pull her arm around to do so. He went through the same routine as she had to clear his vision and looked around weakly.

Fiona greeted him by saying "You can't blame me, I'm cuffed here too"

His groan sounded annoyed but he didn't do much else besides look around.

"How long have been here?" he asked his voice sounding distorted like it was full of saliva which he quickly swallowed down.

"Hell if I know, I woke up about half an hour ago though" she shrugged

He groaned again, he didn't like not knowing things. He looked down realized his armor was gone and all his other stuff "They took my stuff" he said growling aggressively.

Fiona almost said something sarcastic but decided staying quiet would be healthier for her and let him blow off his steam. But it was nice to know not to steal from him if he was getting this angry about it. Even though taking his equipment was logical. Seemed a bit stupid to let a prisoner keep their weapons.

His fist clenched in anger but he made no hostile motion to her so she didn't really care. In time though he slowly calmed, he was going to be easily provoked though so she chose her words carefully.

"So who do you think got us, the town or the bots?"

He took a deep breath and said looking around "The shack tells me it's the town"

"Good point" she nodded.

"They take your stuff too?" he asked looking to her.

"Yup, except I still have my shirt" she said looking away.

"I never even wore a shirt under it…. It's kinda hot in there. Adding a shirt only makes it worse" he explained.

"Makes sense" she shrugged.

"Once I nearly got so desperate that I almost shaved off my fur to make it cooler but I decided against it" he explained, apparently after being captured and looted he was talkative.

Fiona snorted hearing that "Wow, must have been super hot if you were that desperate" she realized he actually spoke to her about something normal instead of mission related or something mean to her.

"yup" was all he said going back to quiet mode.

"So do you work out or did you just naturally get that strong from the new you?" she asked hoping he'd keep talking, the small dimly lit room was depressing.

"A bit of both" he grunted out.

"Gotcha" she nodded getting quiet too.

For some odd reason it felt awkward and Tails suddenly said "They just had to cuff me to you"

Fiona didn't appreciate that but trying to look on the brighter side and too annoy him she replied "Could be worse, we could be tied together back to back"

"…. Good point" he sighed.

Fiona sat there a moment and suddenly flinched thinking of something "Tails… what if these people are renegade but crazy people and that wall is to keep them inside not to keep people away?"

They heard footsteps…

Tails just said "Guess we'll find out…"

Mumbling noises were heard outside and Fiona asked feeling no hope in her body after thinking of their captures as psychos "Tails… what if we're about to die?"

"Then I hope you die first" he said without any mercy nor thought. The fox looked away. She had slightly hoped his threats were just threats but it seemed even in the face of possible death he was still content with outliving her. She almost wanted cry, what happened to him to make him this way… apparently she was the reason. She wanted to apologize, despite her believing he was more to blame for allowing himself to slip away, but felt it would mean nothing to him. She had come to realize she truly was dead to him.

So with no comforting words from her ex-friend she waited for whatever fate was behind that door. She'd have prayed if she felt she was deserving enough to get an answer, but something told her all the choices she made in life wasn't getting her an extra life.

Her knees trembled at the thought of death, it never really came to her until now but what was on the other side of life? She had never believed in anything before but at this moment was willing to bend down and bow to whatever deity existed for a thousand years just to avoid the darkness that she had come to believe was beyond death. Like before in Tails' base when she was cuffed the darkness terrified her and being alone made it worse.

The fox held back tears of terror and wished Tails to say something… ANYTHING to comfort her but that was a wasted thought. It was over and the last thing she'd remember was how much Tails truly hated her guts.

The door knob started to turn and Fiona's pulse quickened she wanted to close her eyes but they stayed wide open to see who was behind the door. She panted as her heart rate continued to rise.

Due to the room being dimly lit as the door opened it got intensely bright for their eyes and both squinted and looked away to not hurt their eyes.

Both recovered quickly and looked to the doorway as the silhouette started to clear from the lit background. It started out black and continued to stay black and the definition started to come.

The blur went away and their eyes adjusted revealing the figure and both said in disbelief "Shadow?"

Standing before them was the hedgehog himself, he had changed since either last saw him. His right ear had a small hole in it from a bullet. A scar going vertically down the left side of his lip, and finally he had a leg brace on his left leg that resembled the one a character called Mad Max wore in a movie.

"Good to see neither of you forgot who I am" he smirked staring at the two foxes.

"Why are we cuffed to a wall!" Tails growled, he didn't consider Shadow an enemy, so he hoped the hedgehog thought same of him… maybe not Fiona.

"Because if I remember correctly you both disappeared for some length of time since Eggman destroyed everything. I also remember be told that Eggman created a Fiona bot and infiltrated the freedom fighters. So you can understand my distrust" He explained with his arms crossed. His weight was subtly shifted to the right to rest his left leg.

Tails scoffed rolling his eyes "Then how'd your darts work?" he guessed they used tranq darts or something like that.

"Perhaps your robotic bodies felt them inject it and faked being knocked out" he said being very hard to read if he was serious or not.

"Fine then cut Fiona open look for yourself. Cause I know I haven't been captured by Eggman lately" he said giving an angry side glance to his partner.

Fiona just frowned looking away but Shadow scoffed "That wound still festering? Hmmm for a second I thought you two had kissed and made up considering you were keeping each other company"

Fiona waited for Tails to explain the situation "We're only together because she has a crazy plan and needs help, only reason I agreed is because I want it just as bad as her"

Shadows eyebrow rose and smiled "Ahhhh, I was wondering why anyone would risk crossing the wall to get inside"

"I doubt you'll take any of it seriously until we prove we're real" Fiona finally spoke up.

The hedgehog nodded "Good observation. Luckily for you…" he pointed to Fiona "I won't need to cut you open and get a look inside" He then proceeded to pull out a small knife and approached.

"But you just said!?" Fiona slid back against the wall.

"Stay still" he demanded grabbing her arm and cutting a small incision which blood flowed out of. The female gasp from the sting but understood what he was doing now. He quickly pulled out some cloth and handed it to her so she could cover up the wound.

He did the same to Tails who growled at him. He wasn't intimidated and did the same also seeing blood and nodded "Alright, with that over.." he pulled out a key and unlocked the cuffs.

Both foxes held the cloths on their wounds and Fiona mumbled "Just add another to the scar collection"

Tails just huffed rolling his eyes rubbing his wound "So now what?" the fox looked to the ebony hedgehog.

Shadow stopped and his hand rested on the make-shift brace on his leg and half turned "Now you try to persuade me to join your cause"

 **AHHHHH it couldn't be a sonic franchise story without Shadow in it(From me atleast) he's just one of the three characters that are garenteed to appear. As I said before their may be others but I'd need to figure out how to use them and stuff.**

 **So thanks for reading, appreciate any words(even criticism)**

 **I also hope that people truly saw how much Fiona means to Tails… less than zero. If it changes… we'll see *** **Mischievous smirk***

 **Anyway live long and prosper**

 **Admiralkirk**


	6. First impressions

**A/N So I finally am feeling in the groove again(And just because I said that I'll drop out soon, you'll see) and I am working on this story finally for reals. Anyway with my inspiration temporarily back I am working on ideas and making them happen. I think it was Archaon that said he/she didn't expect Shadow to appear and I would have thought of all the people to make it through this kind of world it would be Shadow… course then he also brought up a point that of all the people in the world Eggman would have on his hit list Shadow would be second arguably first(Since in my opinion he's more powerful and less morally restricted than sonic is)**

 **Also thanks for the other kind words, I'm glad you enjoy Fiona and Tails so far. I will go more in depth and explain Tails' turn to the darker side at some point but for now this chapter will more or less explain how Shadow has been surviving, how he got the scar, hole in his ear and the leg brace(PS if you don't get what I meant by Mad max leg brace look up a picture, it hard to see but it's two bars going down his…. Right leg I think. Lastly the fourth character will be joining the cast and I bet you'll all be surprised by who it is. Although at the same time you won't be since they've been in a dystopian world before(Hope that isn't too much of a hint)**

 **(Also Ps I have no idea who any of the freedom fighters are putside the main people I specifically mention so that's why I don't mention more sorry if that annoys people. Didn't feel like learning about anyone I wasn't gonna use for a real reason)**

 **So enjoy…**

"So you are planning to break into Eggmans fortress, get through all the defenses, not die and kill him?" Shadow said briefly re-iterating what the two foxes explained to him. They were currently in his office… well it was a shack that had a desk and chair in it with a small lamp so the best office he could get.

"Is it too complicated for you?" Tails asked not liking to repeat himself.

"What your mouth kid, you may not be the kid I knew years ago but you could still never beat me. You'd both be dead before you hit the floor right now" he said eyeing the male intimidatingly.

Fiona on the other hand answered his question "Yes that's our plan, but we ned help and considering you are the mystery guy we were looking for I say we're trying to recruit you"

He hummed in thought rubbing his chin considering it. Like them he wanted Eggman dead but even with his fantastic powers and much more people he had failed and nearly been killed.

"Do you have anyone else?" he asked looking up at the standing foxes while he was in his chair.

"No but would your town be willing to help?" Fiona asked. Tails rolled his eyes, he didn't want their help. The best they could be was cannon fodder.

"Really? So what gave you confidence to even start this? He eyed them skeptically now his hands clasped together on the desk like he were a boss interviewing someone. He seriously considered the idea they both went partially insane, would explain why Fiona hadn't been killed by the male yet.

"We have my underground lair, and everything that's inside including anything I've ever made" Tails argued.

"Right cause some gadgets and three people are gonna win this" he crossed his arms losing faith in them both, but it did answer a question for him. He had wondered where the fox had been hiding even before Eggman destroyed the world.

Fiona growled frustrated at his skepticism "We aren't done looking for people. I was going to ask you if you knew where any of the other are, if they are even alive"

It was silent and Shadow looked down at the desk, more specifically his hands "They're all dead" he sighed actually looking saddened by that.

Tails subtly shifted in place and his ear twitched but Fiona gasped in horror "… All of them?" she was no short of breath, they were all gone and she never even got a chance to apologize.

"What happened?" the female asked.

Shadow took a deep breath and sighed and said "Only hours after Eggman attacked the fortress he has no rose from the ground, everyone was so mad at him they just went in… I was too but I like think I was thinking somewhat clearly…." He stayed quiet before continuing.

"Most were quickly cut down by the many defenses, only a few were left alive by the time the worst happened…"

Flashback…

Shadow dipped and dodged enemy fire grunting from a hard landing. They had been here only ten minutes and things were bad. Most of the freedom fighters were dead or dying. Only ones standing were Sally, Amy, Knuckles and of course Sonic.

Shadow wondered why they hadn't retreated yet, must have been blind anger. He saw it in Sonic's eyes when they met right before the attack. It was more like barely contained rage.

Either way it got them in trouble quickly due to their blunt attack. Early in the fight he had been shot in the ear and only motivated him to go faster.

He huffed jumping away from an approaching missile and slid to a stop near a boulder. They had barely broken faster the outer fence and had been slaughtered.

He looked around desperately hoping to find his few remaining allies either retreating or already out of harms way. Unfortunately, only Amy seemed to do any of that was because she was panicking.

Timing it right he dashed over and slid to a stop beside her, luckiy behind a small rock which forced him to sit down to stay low enough "Are you alright!?" he yelled over the fire.

She barely noticed his presence death clearly in her eyes and tears streaming down her face. He gritted his teeth, she was broken and he needed to get her out of here, but nowhere was a safe place to run especially with a passenger. He'd have teleported her away but something was effecting his chaos powers, like a field around the base wasn't allowing him to draw power from his emerald.

That brought up something in his mind, as soon as he showed himself a large portion of the defences attacked him. He wanted the emerald making him want to get away even more.

The dark hedgehog ignored the crying girl for a moment and looked over the rock to spy for anyone else. First he saw Knuckles, bloodied but dying, he was panting hold his arm in distress. Luckily he found a safe place to hide, not that he didn't leave a fine trail of destruction behind him.

He growled yet another ally down for the count, only Sally and Sonic left, plus himself.

His eyes darted to Sally who was now about to be killed, he had been shot in the leg and a robot was approaching already. It was too far, the defenses had been ready for super sonic speeds which was why even him and Sonic had no progress. He had no choice but to watch from afar.

But a blur or blue went by punching straight through the robot disabling it. The blue turned but came to a horrid sliding stop as a bullet managed to lead him properly. He wasn't dead but he'd soon be.

He looked away knowing there was only one course of action, he'd have to find a way to save Amy and knuckles, there was no chance for Sonic and Sally, he already heard a shot ending the female. He didn't want to look over and confirm it.

Bu his eyes flashed to Sonic who was getting up despite a shot to his shoulder, he was panting and looking around and met with his long time rivals eyes. There wasn't anger anymore, only remorse, sadness and regret for what he had done to them all. He was their leader and led them all to their deaths.

But he also seemed to send Shadow a message with just his eyes and the ebony hedgehog knew what it was. He nodded and got ready.

The blue hedgehog shot off for the last time running in the opposite direction as all the defences turned to take him out once and for all.

Shadow picked up the weeping girl and dashed for Knuckles, his incredible strength would allow him to carry them both to safety.

It may have been split seconds but to him and Sonic it felt like a minute, as long as he continued to hear shooting and explosions he was sure Sonic was still alive and the longer he'd have to run.

As he picked p Knuckles though it all stopped, no time to mourn, he had only once chance and he had to take it know while everything was still partially watching Sonic. His skates activated to full power and he blasted away from the base as fast he could with his two passengers.

In half a second he was now the target but in the half a second he had cleared most of the distance to the small hill.

He was barely fast enough to void it all except a missile explosion which made him and his two allies sail forward just clearing the small incline and they all slid to a stop on the ash covered ground.

Knuckles groaned in pain but tried to stand "W-where's everyone else…?" he panted out looking around only finding Shadow and Amy.

"We need to keep moving or the robots will catch up to us" Shadow said partially avoiding the question so his last useful ally wouldn't go into a rage and get himself killed.

"Alright, get her and let's go" he said holding his arm and running as Shadow picked u Amy again and followed.

Hey escaped with ease after that and once they stopped Knuckles asked "So where is everyone else?" he knew there were casualties… but not everyone.

Shadow layed Amy against a rock and said after a short moment "Nobody is left besides us…"

Present…

Shadow sighed and finished "He got mad as you'd expect but I knocked him out and continued on with both of them"

"Then what happened to them Fiona asked hoping they were ok. Hearing of Sonic death saddened her, she dated him and despite it not really happening he had been a nice guy. She looked to Tails but he only seemed to be in deep thought or waiting for Shadow to continue.

Two months later were attacked while on the move. It had been a trap meant specifically for us. In the end Knuckles died fighting and I got caught by a trap that was like a bear trap but faster, specifically designed to catch people of my speed. That's why I have this leg brace now" he said gesturing to it.

"And Amy?" Fiona asked fearfully.

"I fought off a bot that tried to cut me down even with the trap around my leg, the blade managed to cut my mouth" he gestured to the scar on his lip "But in the end it was destroyed. Amy came right after and using her hammer smashed the unlock switch and freed me… we got separated after that and I was forced to run…. So I don't know what happened to her. When I came back shortly after there was no body besides Knuckles. I was atleast able to bury him" He sadly explained his fist clenching angrily clearly frustrated ay something in the account.

All three were silent, two mourning while the third waiting for more words to be spoken, you can probably tell who.

"So. how'd you end up here?' Fiona finally broke the silence.

For another month I stayed away from people, but I found this town about to be wiped out because it's people were too rebellious. I saved them… barely I still didn't have the leg brace so I walked with a limp and enough pressure made it hurt. In thanks they made me the brace and gave me a place to stay. Eventually they put me in charge because I was the most experienced. And so for nearly two years I've been here, keeping these people safe…. It's all I can really do now" he frowned looking down feeling near useless.

Fiona nodded but Tails finally spoke "So what's with the wall?"

Shadow suddenly snorted "You mean the kiddy fence? Hardly worth my time, more to keep people like you out"

"Why keep people out?" Fiona asked suspiciously.

"Because I'm here" he smirked "Eggman won't admit it but he needs me, or atleast what I have" he revealed the chaos emerald, the green one, from his desk "I surmise he has all of them besides this one and he wants it" tossing it up and catching it.

"So why not obliterate the town and dead from your charred remains?" Tails asked bluntly arms crossed suspiciously.

Shadow smirked more bearing his fangs "Cause I can destroy it"

Both went wide eyed "You can destroy a chaos emerald?"

"Yup… well actually not detroy, more like absorb so much energy at once it shuts down forever…. Then I explode" he said.

"How do you know you can do that then?" Tails once again suspicious

Shadow laughed "I don't, I just know I was convincing enough when I said it that Eggman is scared. He laughed again as he revealed he was theoretically lying.

"Too smart for your own good" Fiona smirked shaking her head at his smart play.

"So now we've been sitting in a perpetual stale mate, I can't get everyone out of here without suffering casualties and he can't commit to an attack because I could destroy the emerald" Shadow explained staring at the emerald.

Tails asked "You mean you actually care about these people?"

Shadows eyes shot at him, yes he originally wasn't the nicest person. He still wasn't that nice but the people had been good to him for what he did and he felt like it gave him a purpose again "Let's just say these people are worth keeping safe"

All were silent until Shadow asked "So you've seemed to ask me all the important questions, what have you two been up to?"

Fiona explained her story same as before to Tails feeling that lying wouldn't help him trust them.

"So Scourge finally left ya for dead, I was wondering when he'd leave you to die" He wasn't smirking or laughing, he actually sounded somewhat sad for her. Perhaps he knew he had been her only ally and friend.

"…Ya… if I had a chance I'd kick his ass" she said crossing his arms.

The hedgehog looked to Tails who waited a moment before speaking "After I left the freedom fighters I worked on my a new lab, the one I have now underground. For months I worked and expanded the place eventually becoming a disaster bunker. Bet you can tell it came in handy"

Shadow didn't seemed to find it to be enough information but also realized he wasn't gonna get much. He too found the new Tails disturbing.

He was quiet once again the only sound was of shifting feet before he finally sighed "I might have one more recruit for you, he's not just another random guy. Although he's a little young and inexperienced… and hard headed. He's got good intentions and has basically been the other major defender of this town. I'm sure he'll say yes, he's way too hard headed… not to mention enthusiastic"

Both foxes looked to one another and Tails asked "If he is so useful how come he sounds so dumb?"

"Cause he kinda is…. I've been trying to refine his kills and abilities since we met… I can't protect this place on my own" he explained getting up planning to go find the mystery person.

Both foxes watched as he passed and proceeded to follow.

Walking through the town it felt a lot like Fiona's home except even worse. Since they were disconnected from the small help Eggman gives them the town was falling apart.

She felt terrible for them all, none of them looked even remotely safe but guess that's what it was like having yourself surrounded by a wall covered in guns.

Shadow eventually asked someone where his guy was and eventually he walked to a small shack and yelled to the roof "Hey Kid get down here!"

They heard someone stand and walk to the edge and jump down. Standing in front of them was a white, maybe silver hedgehog. He was clearly a bit younger then them all at around 14 or 15. His young face smiling excitingly waiting to hear what Shadow had to say.

His quills were fashioned strangely, it oddly gave him a look like his head was shaped like marijuana. It actually made Fiona hold back a giggle. His sender arms had gold rings on them, more like thick bands. Finally he wore black boots that reminded Fiona a lot of Amy's boots just coloured differently.

Shadow growled "What are you doing?"

"Umm… responding to your call?" he asked scratching his head confused.

"Without getting someone to cover your lookout!?" he said chastising the poor kid.

The younger hedgehog took a step back "Sorry… I'll go do that, give me a sec" he jogged off to find someone to cover his post.

Fiona smiled and chuckled "Why so hard on the kid?"

"Because he's essentially the second most powerful person here. He has the ability to use telekinesis and can lift objects, throw them, slam them whatever you want. He can also fly using his powers on himself" Shadow explained.

"SO he's like your apprentice?" Fiona jokingly asked.

Shadow answered seriously "He kind of is, his Name is Silver the hedgehog and once he hears your plan he might never leave you alone. As I said eager and stupid"

"We can't afford stupid" Tails said bluntly.

Shadow shrugged "He might surprise you. In a fight or mission he gets single minded and focused. Nothing diverts him from his goal. It's an advantage and disadvantage" he shrugged "As I said, he's good but he needs refinement"

The hedgehog came running back and said "Ok, got somebody, sorry"

"Just remember next time" Shadow growled to him but then pointed to the foxes "These are some old friends of mine. They're here looking for help and I thought you might want to hear what they got planned" his hands clasped behind his back.

The snow which hedgehog looked to the two foxes and smiled "Nice to meet ya, I'm Silver, any friend of Shadows is a friend of mine"

Fiona shrugged "I'm hardly a friend, even from back then. More like we knew eachother, him on the other hand" she gestured to Tails "They actually spoke, but yes we got something planned"

"Let's hear it" he said enthusiastically.

Tails started "We're building team to kill Eggman"

The young Hedgehogs eyes went wide in amazement "You want to kill Eggman… but… you told them the story right?" he looked to the older hedgehog.

He nodded back but gestured for him to keep listening.

Fiona spoke next "I recently met up with Tails here and after some… talking" The both rolled their eyes at this "We decided to find other people to help us. Our first stop was here and we ended u finding Shadow, and as an extra you"

"So it's just you two?" Silver asked a little worried that it wasn't nearly enough support.

"We're not done recruiting people, this was just our first outing" Fiona said to the young hedgehog, she felt it was kinda obvious after what she said.

"Oh then sorry" he apologized.

Shadow just watched from the sidelines, he knew Silver was waiting to hear if he said yes to the plan. The kid had some confidence issues but if Shadow was involved he'd always join.

"I know it isn't a lot of info but do you see anyone else trying to end all this?" Fiona tried to persuade him.

Silver thought and nervously said "Uhhh… well I don't know…"

Tails growled "Listen hedgehog, you either say yes or no, but realize we're the only people trying to do anything besides sit around and meaninglessly fight for a dead end town" he approached him aggressively but a hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Touch him and consider yourself kicked out of town" Shadows harsh voice said.

Tails growled but backed off crossed armed staring in some random direction.

"Sorry, he's a little angry at the world… but mostly me" Fiona cleared up only confusing the young man.

"But then… why's he with you?" he asked his face heavily questioning.

"Necessity, we met awhile ago by accident. I was looking for help just like we are now, I had no idea it was him. In the end he nearly killed me… twice before I convinced him to help me. Despite all that I'm fully expecting to get shot in the back if we both survive through all this" Fiona explained making Tails roll his eyes. When Tails was worried about her dying first back when they were cuffed she truly realized that was planning that probably.

"Oh… ummm… will he be a problem?" Silver asked.

"If you piss him off, yes" Fiona nodded.

"Soooooo… what did Shadow say about all this" Silver finally asked.

Shadow smirked glad he still could predict him "Totally honest I want your opinion" yet another test to see if Silver was learning, he had made is choice, what it was he had yet to answer.

"Well I've heard your story about how everyone was killed when you attacked before, I'm sure it's only gotten stronger since then. We have far less people so far and no plan of attack, atleast I assume that one" he thought aloud.

Shadow smiled but said "And you left out the fact that none of us know eachother enough in a fight to work together coherently. Silver and I do, but we don't know you two, and I'm sure you don't know eachother at all" He could be wrong on that though, consider they fought together in the past it may not have changed much.

Tail shrugged "I'll have a plan once we have everyone we can get"

"Hope you do" Shadow commented "Sadly if you haven't noticed this town is only standing because I'm here. If I leave then this place gets fire bombed"

"Forget about them, we have the world to save!" Tails growled.

That was totally uncalled for, Tails of all people said that and everyone glared daggers at the heartless fox.

"Hey, you may want to save the world but these people matter to me. As much as I want to help these people are my friends, I'm not leaving them for dead" Silver growled actually showing a spine.

Tails growled back "If you aren't too young to remember someone once said 'The needs of the many out weigh the needs of the few"

"Tails! I truly thought there was a still heart in there" Fiona poked him making him flinch but reach for his gun to take out Fiona.

"Keep you hands where they are" Shadow growled stopping everyone his emerald glowing with power.

Fiona watched ferfully of what either male would do as the rage in Tails slowly died down. Silver just watched scared to do anything until Shadow acted first.

Fiona watched as Tails' arms went back to a crossed formation and huffed.

She sighed "What a great first impression" sarcastically.

Tails just growled "Shut up… fine…" it sounded very much like he didn't want to ask but did anyway "How can we help this place?"

 **Well that's another chapter down. Hope you guys are liking so far. Man that last part was even unexpected for me it just happened as I wrote, heartless Tails. I promise he'll get better.**

 **So who realized it was Silver from my hint above? Cause I knew he had to be here. In this dark world climsy, dumb and young Silver is perfect. I was honestly planning to make Silver Shadows son for awhile but I realized the time between the comics and this was too short for Silver to be as old as he is. So I decided to substitute it for this mentor relationship.**

 **As for Shadows background I hopeit all made sense and was good. I'll explain Silvers past soon as well. Hope you guys are enjoying the read. More action will be coming up soon.**

 **Also Shout to Spock for the 'neds of the many out weigh the needs of the few line"**

 **Also shout out to Spock for my recently used closing line "Live long and Prosper" RIP Leonard Nemoy(Kinda late for that but still amazing actor, I'll miss him)**

 **Admiralkirk**


	7. Working towards change

**A/N Hey here's chapter seven. Now we'll see a bit more of some other stuff I need to show off. I realize my writing sucks I went back and read some of my own work and realized I miss words a lot, or miss spell words…. Or even miss spell a word then my program auto corrects it to the wrong word. I noticed that one a few times. Anyway I feel dumb a lot of the time cause I kinda finish a chapter and I'm like "Meh who needs proof reading" but I really shouldn't…. for some reason nobody really complained before now, thanks Archeon.**

 **So I promise I'll proof read this one and fix a lot of crap if(I mean when) I come by it. My biggest problem is I type too fast, so fast that I will hit a key halfway so it won't come up. Anyway enough of my excuses. Let's get going.**

As soon as Shadow was done speaking of ways to help the town folk Tails walked away, Obviously feeling like he was going to snap again. Nobody stopped him but Shadow quickly told one of the towns folk nearby to keep eyes on him at all times. What he had spoken of were no solid ideas. He decided to give everyone some time to think and cool off before moving forward.

When he came back he sighed "It's strange seeing him in such a way… now you are the nice one and he's the bad"

Fiona rolled her eyes "Ya… he says it my fault… I feel I had a hand in it, but he also allowed himself to turn this way…. Right?" she was asking incase she was actually wrong.

"That is not for me to say. I wasn't there and I never knew you on a personal level. I heard the story but you can never tell unless you are right there in the moment" the ebony hedgehog thought it over.

She nodded understanding his point but he continued "Seems you have both suffered from your betrayal since then. Hope you can both work past it soon… but anyway you should stay away from him for a bit. Silver, show her around and keep her company… or make her sit with you during your watch. Just don't embarrass yourself" he chuckled walking away to attend to other business.

Silver sighed slouching "Really, just had to say it?"

He was too far gone but Fiona asked hands on her hips "What was that supposed to mean?" her eyes suspicious.

Silver groaned scratching his head "I told him that I spoke to a girl before Eggman destroyed everything and long story short, I embarrassed myself badly"

Fiona giggled "Ok I won't ask then"

"Thanks" he said still slouching but he was appreciative.

"So we walking or hanging out on the roof?" the fox asked finding it refreshing to have someone new to speak with.

"Well I don't think the guy I got will appreciate being stuck up there for too long so we should head back" he started walking to the building.

Fiona followed but he said "Ummm… you don't mind if I fly us up do ya? Don't want you to get all worried I'm gonna throw you or something?" last time he tried the woman thought he was abducting her.

"Sure go ahead"

He nodded and his hands glowed green before being covered entirely by the light. He reached out slightly and Fiona also started to glow next to him. Both slowly floated up and landed at the edge of the roof.

Waiting was a wolf who looked over and got up to leave while Silver thanked him. The wolf jumped down and Silver took a seat on the edge looking out at the landscape and the wall that surrounded them.

Fiona sat down a few feet away from him and said "So, what's your story. If I might ask?"

Silver shrugged avoiding looking at her as he continued to stare out at the land. He may have taken Shadows teachings a bit too seriously. He once told him to never lose focus or get distracted and he took that a little too much and looked straight out constantly.

Despite all that he blinked slowly and shrugged "Nothing much to tell, I grew up in a nearby city. I knew I had my powers for years, never told anyone cause I thought they'd cast me out for being different. Life was already hard on me anyways" he frowned looking down for about half a second before looking back to the horizon.

Fiona eyed him "You thought the kids would bully you or not be your friend because you had powers. I don't think they would but even if they did you could toss a few bullies around and make a few friends that way"

"Well, maybe" he smiled though.

"What did you mean by hard life?" Fiona asked curious to learn about her new potential teammate.

He was hesitant to answer but sighed "If we're gonna be allies I assume we'll have to be trusting of eachother. Guess that's why you freely told me you weren't a good person in the past… or atleast I inferred that from what you, Tails and Shadow said" once again the teachings paying off.

"I guess so, can't be as bad as how I grew up though" she smiled encouragingly.

"Well… I didn't know my parents growing up, so, ya I grew up in an orphanage. The only stuff I had when I got there were these two bracelets and boots. So obviously there were kids who tried to make the best of it and those who resented others for it. I was the first… a lot of other kids were the latter. Then one day the world began to burn thanks to Eggman and I ran. I met up with a group of survivors that were eventually captured and sent here. Everyone got rebellious including me and Eggman nearly killed us all until Shadow showed up. That's my story" he said leaning back using his arms as support

Fiona wanted to get all smart-allicky but instead said "Well…. Sorry, you sound like you got out ok. I mean you seem normal for this world"

He snorted smiling "Ya, Shadow tells me that sometimes, he's says it's because I'm young and optimistic"

"No argument here" she friendly said joked.

"So you said your childhood was probably worse… may I ask what you meant by that?" he asked politely giving her the option.

There was a short pause of her thinking but she decided to say "Sorry kid but that's something that requires some trust to explain. But let me tell you it was still worse than yours" She wasn't bragging, she really wished she was though.

"That's alright, if it's that bad I'm sure talking about it is hard" his eyes hadn't moved much since they started talking.

Both were quiet again with awkward silence and Fiona asked "So when did Shadow start going all master on you?"

Silver smiled warmly at the memories "Well he saved the town and soon his leg was fixed up. We all decided he'd be best in charge. Although he knew he couldn't do it on his own. At the time I didn't believe him, I thought he was just so amazing, powerful and a good leader. But it was on the …. Sixth or so attack that things got crazy…"

Flashback…

Shadow growled seeing another wave of eggbots moving in on the town. Large numbers.

"Already one week and six attacks, we aren't even halfway through the week" he griped but sped off to go meet them.

Unknown to him a second group was waiting, they had dug under the town and were waiting to break out and attack once Shadow engaged. When he had committed to the fight they burst from the ground and started shooting all over.

Everyone was screaming for help and several people were killed in the first few seconds.

But one hedgehog wasn't backing down. All his life he hid his powers but now he had to use them. If he didn't all the people he had come to trust would die.

His hands glowed with a green aura and picked up a nearby table and threw it with all the force he could muster. It mashed into a crab like robot causing it to stumble.

Of course he knew wood wasn't going to stop a metal crab he just wanted it's attention from snapping a woman in half.

"Hey, I think it's time you scuttled on out of here!"

It's response was obvious as it scuttled towards him with it's snappers poised to grab him. In response he just lifted the robot and threw it up into the sky at an approaching bee drone.

"Your stinging days are over"

He ran to help someone else and continued his tactic of using a bot to destroy another bot. Unfortunately as he rounded a corner a real challenge was facing him.

The white hedgehog froze spotting a robot that was twice his size and had a rifle attachment on its arm. It had seen him round the corner and aimed. When it fired Silver flinched throwing his hands up in a futile attempt to save himself from the bullets.

But they never came.

Opening up his eyes he realized his hands were glowing again and in front of him was a semi transparent green wall that had stopped the bullets cold in the air. He smiled excitedly realizing he had made a wall, or shield of some kind.

"Never knew I could do that" he smiled but then had another idea. If he could make force fields and stuff like that maybe he could use it offensively too. Pushing his hand out opened palmed he saw the shield shoot forward and smash into the robot.

The wall continued sending it backwards until it smashed into a shack causing it to collapse.

"Uh oh" he gulped the energy around his hands dissipating which also cause his force field to stop. Luckily the structure finished off the damaged robot.

He continued through the town smashing anything in his way but slowly felt tired. He'd never used his powers so much so extensively. He looked around and heard no more screaming or shooting and sighed since the danger passed.

"Right when I was about to pass out" he slouched catching his breath but stood stiff feeling a small metal object touch the back of his head.

He gulped now sweating fearing for his life.

One last robot remained, badly damaged from before which Silver had thought he destroyed.

"For disobeying Lord Eggman you will now be terminated" it said in a blank robotic voice.

Silver panted with his hands in the air hoping for a miracle.

There was no time to think, to look back. He wished he had been able to meet his parents and ask them why they left him alone and had to abandon him.

His eyes opened as he heard metal fold over metal, scratch metal, and other breaking sounds.

It suddenly stopped and he turned hands still in the air and found the bot was now just a sphere shaped metal ball.

"Huh?" he asked looking around.

"You can put your hands down" he heard a gruff voice say.

Silver did just that feeling dumb, he was just a little flustered, but turned to the voice he knew he had heard before.

A few feet away from him was Shadow the hedgehog holding his chaos emerald still dimming from using it's power to crush the robot.

"Thank you Shadow, I'd be a dead if not for you" he smiled gratefully to the hero.

"And everyone else would be dead had it not been for you" he flashed a small smile.

Present…

"So that's how it all happened" Silver smiled.

Fiona huffed impressed by the young man, he had to have been twelve or thirteen back then, he was a very brave young man.

"So after that Shadow took me under his wing and I've been his student since then" Silver finally finished.

"Well good for you kid. Shadow rarely warms up to people so easily. Atleast from what I hear" Fiona smiled to him. His comment must have meant a lot cause he smiled more and actually averted his eyes from lookout duty sheepishly thanking her.

Both were quiet once again for a few minutes. Fiona tail flicking left and right before asking "Soooo… how do you pass the time up here?"

Elsewhere…

Shadow continued walking through the town inspecting to see if anything was wrong. He found nothing had gone wrong with anything like the defensive barriers. No leaks from water and no fires…. Since this morning.

He had something else on his mind, where Tails went. Last he saw him he wasn't very happy and felt he might do something irrational. Asking another member of the community where he had gone, since he had sent word to keep tabs on Tails, he was told the general direction the fox went.

As he walked down the street he heard yelling. He sighed recognizing both voices and jogged to the disturbance.

Rounding a corner he saw a bear and Tails yelling at eachother in front of a door.

"You can't keep me from going where I want!" Tails roared.

"Sorry fox, but you can go just about anywhere but here, get that through you head" the bear growled back.

Shadow groaned and approached "Max, back off, he's with me. Let us through"

"You sure?" he asked and Shadow just nodded getting impatient so the bear opened the door "Sorry sir" he had actually done nothing wrong. Tails just wasn't allowed in until this very moment.

"Don't worry about it Max special case is all" he patted his arm as he passed and Tails followed who gave the bear angry glares.

Once the door closed Tails asked "So why this place so restricted?"

The hedgehog stayed quiet but gestured for him to follow. The room was totally bland nothing but four walls. Shadow just kneeled down near the far corner and grabbed at some dents in the metal floor. Metal floor, the rest of the places didn't have that?

The dent turned out to be like finger slots and he pulled up revealing a secret door. Shadow led him down the ladder and said "This is why it's so restricted"

The fox turned and was surprised to see row upon row of plants all with lights over them, UV lights to be precise.

"So this is how you feed yourself without Eggmans help?" Tails said but then realized "Wait, that's impossible this can't feed a whole town"

Shadow merely smirked led him further into the underground cavern. Another wall was in there way with a much more visible door this time. He opened this and on the other side animal noises could be heard.

"You have animals!? How?" everything had been burned in the attacks.

Shadow smirked "Where do you think Eggman keeps getting food, we stole it all. It's one of the reasons why Eggman wants this place destroyed unlike other places. Other towns just steal food, they don't steal what makes the food" he smirked smartly as he closed the door. The only reason none of them did that was because getting food and getting the things that made the food were two different tasks. One required a lot more time and fighting.

He then added "If we ever get low then we go on a small raid and get what we need. Ither Silver or myself stays to keep everyone else safe"

Tails actually smiled, well more of a smirk and nodded "You really have kept these people safe"

Shadow got serious "Which is why I'm not leaving them for dead. I've spent too much effort and time keeping these people alive. They trust me and they give me a purpose to continue to live"

Tails watched him for a moment and finally said "Killing Eggman is a purpose"

"Then what?" Shadow asked having thought this through, if they succeeded these people would be dead and he'd yet again have no purpose.

Tails realized what he meant and asked "Why do you care about these people so much. The old Shadow hardly cared about any of us?"

Shadow grit his teeth then sighed depressed looking away and took a deep breath "Because those people you speak of could have been saved…."

Flashback, minutes before the freedom fighters fall…

Shadow waited among the crowd of Mobians all riled listening to Sonic. All of them clearly enraged from what Eggman did to their planet.

"He's gone too far this time, we're gonna do what we should have done a long time ago!" Sonic yelled only getting the crowd more agitated.

This was insane, Shadow could see the defenses from here, maybe, just maybe he and Sonic could make it but nobody else could. He stepped forward from the crowd.

"Sonic if you attack without a better plan, nobody will make it!" He yelled.

"We don't have time to make a plan millions of people are dead because of him. We need to take him down now before he gets any stronger!" Sonic had a point but no raw force was going to finish this fight.

Shadow yelled again "You have to listen to me, if you go that way head on then everyone of you will die. There is no other ending to this!"

"Be quiet Shadow, of all people I would have thought you'd want this" Sonic growled.

"I do want him dead but…"

"See now come on, let's finish this" he waved for everyone to follow.

Shadow tried to speak again but Knuckles walked past him brushing him aside. He knew what was about to happen.

Next he saw Amy pass by and he quickly grabbed her arm "You can't go"

"Yes I can Shadow, these are my friends. I'm not letting them go alone" Amy pulled her arm away and was about to keep walking when Shadow said "I can see everyone else going, they know how to fight but you…"

"Can't fight, are too young, not good enough?" she guessed a few possible endings to his sentence.

"No that's not what I meant I can't…"

"NO, I'm going and that's final!" she turned following everyone soon running.

Shadow growled, they were all stupid, blinded by anger. If they could only think for one moment! His fist clenched realizing he too had to go with them.

"I need to help them… if any are going to survive I need to go too" he growled to himself and reluctantly followed.

Present…

Shadow looked down to the floor and said shaking his head sadly "I had all the power to stop them all but I didn't… I hid it well but I was angry too…. I should have tried harder. They should be alive… or atleast lived longer but because I didn't try hard enough and let Sonic walk over me they are all dead…. I won't let these people suffer because you want to rush to the same fate" he was now deadly serious staring at his old friend.

Tails stared back at him with the same straight face and it stayed like that for several minutes until Shadow brushed past the fox "And if you can't wait you are free to leave whenever you want. But my place… my purpose at this moment is keeping these people safe. Whether you like it or not" He walked away leaving the fox alone by himself climbing back to the surface.

He hoped that would make Tails think.

Back on the roof…

"Why are you so fast!" Silver yelled frustrated trying again.

"Or maybe you are just slow" Fiona laughed.

"They were playing a game called slapsies, basically one person would put out their hands opened up and palm facing down. The other would do the same but their palms would face upwards . The goal was the person on the bottom would have to manage to slap the top persons top of their hands faster then they could pull them back. If the person faked going for an attempt and the top person pulled back then the bottom person would get one free slap as hard as they wanted. If the bottom successfully slapped the other player they'd switch.

He growled and faked but Fiona didn't move smirking.

"Why are you so good at this" Silver griped.

The female giggled at him "Cause I'm amazing" she gloated.

Silver rolled his eyes and said "Ya well I'm amazinger… and a sore loser" his hands glowed holding her own hands in place then slapped slowly and with a massive smirk on his face as hard as he could.

"HA" he pumped his fist in the air.

"You cheater" Fiona whined rubbing her hands.

"Never said I couldn't do that" he smirked crossing his arms feeling smart.

She groaned "I assumed you'd realize powers aren't allowed"

"I'm Sure Shadow has told you I'm not the brightest light, you made the mistake of assuming I'd assume that" he smirked smartly.

She just shook her head annoyed but heard a new voice.

"So I see you've distracted Silver within half an hour"

They turned seeing Shadow causing Silver to frown and apologize.

Shadow just signaled him to be quiet "Don't worry about it today. I don't think anything is happening today anyway" he smiled, he heard the friendly banter and laughing and allowed the two a moment to smile and just be normal.

"Thanks" Silver said realizing this and went back to looking out now standing.

Fiona stood as well and asked "So you find Tails?"

"Yes I did, he's still a little angry but he's simmering down" Shadow nodded.

"Good to hear. So got a plan yet?" Fiona asked him but he just shook his head.

Silver sighed "Well we need to figure something out, or we'll never be able to go on the offensive"

Shadow continued to go into deep thought "I wish we could just escape, but despite how pitiful that wall is compared to Silver and I's power, people would die. Even if we did escape Eggman would hunt us down using the power of the emerald to track us. But if I left he'd come for them anyway" It sounded like unless Shadow was willing to let all these people die he was stuck with them.

Silver took a deep breath "You told me you've used the power of the emerald to transport to different zones. Could you do that?"

Shadow shook his head "I was only able to do that if I used chaos control while touching metal Sonic since he had a dimension transport device inside him. I can't do it by myself"

Fiona hummed "If only we had Scourges warp ring. It would send them to Moebius it's better than here…. I hope"

"But we don't, and I doubt Scourge will give it to us" Shadow tapped his chin.

Silver said "What if you used the chaos emerald to shield everyone while, Fiona, and I go destroy the wall, Tails could stay to give you support. I could destroy a bit of the wall to let everyone out"

Shadow sighed sadly "Good idea but then what, we still need to keep everyone safe from other attacks, I'm sure Eggman wouldn't want these people making it to others. They know how to survive on their own"

Silver growled thinking again.

Fiona crossed her arms frustrated "I don't think there's a way to save these people forever and do our plan… I hate to say it though"

Silver looked away sadly slowly believing that maybe Tails was right. Maybe these people would have to be sacrificed so they could continue with their plan and help everyone else.

Shadow stayed quiet not wanting to give up but all three heard heavy boots land on the roof.

"I have a plan"

They looked to Tails who was smirking and said "You probably won't like it. But it will get us out of here and keep everyone safe, atleast better than they would be with any other plan"

Nobody noticed but Shadow smirked hearing him say that and walked forward "What is your plan?"

Tails smirked again and proceeded to explain.

Two days later…

"So can someone explain the plan again?" Silver asked tapping his earpiece.

"No" Tail's voice could be heard over the radio.

"Just do your job and we'll all do ours remember that" Shadow replied knowing that Silver was nervous. He always got forgetful and sometimes clumsy when he was nervous.

The white hedgehog nodded and gulped "Got it, so we all ready?"

Fiona said "All the townfolk are where they need to be, preparations have been made. I assume you three are all ready?"

"Just hope you are ready?" Tails said rudely but was ignored.

"Ok so we got our jobs and our areas, let's make this count" Fiona said grabbing her weapons and a few things Tails reluctantly gave her. She also had a pack of explosives that the town had made for attacks. How they got the supplies to do so was a bit of a mystery but it was stolen.

"Alright good luck" Silver said taking off to the sky towards his quadrant of the wall.

"Don't get killed" Tails said already running.

"You better hope this plan works Tails, I believe it all until the very end" Shadow growled blasting off to his area.

"Doubt my reasoning for helping but don't doubt my plan" Tails warned.

"Guys shut up we got a job to do" Fiona ended I there also running.

"Just keep to your quarter of the circle and meet your partner at the end" Shadow briefly re-iterated.

All four went to off in four directions deciding the quickest way to completely annihilate everything would be to split up.

Shadow was first too arrive and instantly started with Chaos blast destroying a section of the wall, and any robots on it and any defense nearby. Now he had some breathing room.

Tails ran forward activating his active camouflage and flew into the air pulling out his plasma weapon and switched the settings. He fired off large globs that stuck to the wall. Several bots stopped to look at them before they exploded vaporizing them all and chunks of the wall. Chuckling slightly he switched to a rapid fire settings and started gunning down anything that came into view.

Silver flew straight at his area and smirked as a forcefield formed around his body. He careened towards the wall green shield in the front and smashed straight through, he was a little dizzy from the hard hit but turned and using the rubble started chucking it at anything that attacked him.

Fiona would have the hardest time but since everyone engaged first there was a distraction for her. She approached the wall and started planting the explosives along it, counting her steps to get an even spread. Just as she was planting the last a bot saw her and fired barely missing.

The fox dropped the final bomb and ripped out her pistils and with gunslinger accuracy shot its optics. Immediately she back pedaled from the structure watching for any more retaliation.

Sadly there was so she shot back until she reached a rock and pressed a button on the controller she had. Half a second later multiple explosions went off in sequence taking the wall with it as it crumbled.

Fiona smirked and lunged back out of cover and advanced shooting like before on any stragglers or new comers. Seeing a group she took out one of Tails' special weapons and threw the small silver orb.

Landing near the group it seemingly did nothing until all three bots suddenly shut down.

"EMP grenade for the win!" she cheered glad he didn't give her a dud.

Shadow in his area was having no trouble as he blinked around taking out any bot that attack him. He appeared behind one and with a chaos empowered chop slicing horizontally cutting it in half then blinked to another. Whenever he could he'd blink to a chunk of wall and with a chaos empowered punch cause it to crumble into little pieces.

He really hated this wall and found great happiness in destroying it for good. After this Eggman would have no reason to build it again.

Silver also had a great time destroying the wall and when he had a small moment took a large piece of rubble and picked it up. He took a stance like he were about to pitch a baseball and took a deep breath. His hands moved around and the ruble he held floated around in mid air above him matching his movements above him.

With an over dramatic throw the rubble hurled towards the wall taking it down with a satisfying smash.

"STRIKE!" he laughed then waved his hand upwards creating another psi barrier stopping bullets that would have taken off his head.

Tails seemed to be having some fun practicing his shooting taking bots heads off with his scope continuing to fly above them. They were confused where he was but were slowly triangulating his position from his shots.

Finally a few got a little too close so Tails dropped down to the top of the wall and landed shoulder his weapon.

He uncloaked with fist clenched and the knuckles sparked with electricity.

He was quite swift using his tails to quickly burst him forward punching into the nearest bot electrifying it and frying it systems causing it to just fall over. The fist stopped sparking using up its charge and started recharging.

He ducked as a nearby bot tried to hit him in the back but he just spun in place upper cutting it shocking it's systems aswell. After that he realized he was surrounded. He smirked and suddenly tossed two silver orbs to both his sides and jumped off the wall hearing shooting behind him.

The shooting stopped as his EMP grenades shut them all down. Using his tails he flew before hitting the ground and grabbed his gun continuing to blow chunks of wall away with the explosive plasma shots.

Fiona climbed the ruble she had created and continued along the wall quickly stopping at a camera and smirked as she slowly dragged her finger across her throat at it as a warning to Eggman who was surely watching and also as a way to rile him up and force him to get drastic. As everyone knew Eggman had an ego and any threat to it even in the smallest way got him easily reckless. Once she finished she used her pistol to smash the lens making it useless.

The fox continued on taking down anything in her way and occasionally planting the few bombs she still had left setting them off as she went.

Soon all four had slowly whittled away their area except Fiona. That was expected, she didn't have the power or equipment to take it completely down but that's why Silver was her partner. They met and Silver waved to her and she waved back.

The white hedgehog proceeded to pick up rubble and destroy what was left of Fionas length of wall while she covered him.

On the exact opposite side of the nearly completely destroyed circle Tails and Shadow met up and nodded to one another. Finishing off the small resistance still left.

With that done Tails shouldered his weapon and flew to Shadow and grabbed his hand. Both flew away from the town the second stage of their plan commencing.

Silver and Fiona finished shortly after and Silver lifted the female and also flew away meeting Tails and Shadow.

"Ok, mission accomplished, all egg-crap is destroyed or inoperable" Silver said with a thumbs up.

"Now for the scary part" Shadow mumbled looking to the defenseless town.

"You all made sure to piss off Eggman right? Cause I did" Fiona said putting her pistols in their holsters.

"I think we humiliated his power exceptionally well, he'll have a ship coming by any minute now" Shadow said looking around.

Like he predicted an egg blimp appeared over the landscape and as it neared a mega phone turned on.

The two foxes and hedgehogs hid to stay out of view and listened in.

"I'm sorry, it seems Shadow has abandoned you at last. Now I have some unfinished business that should have been done months ago" Eggmans voice was heard. He wasn't actually in the blimp; he'd never risk that. It was remotely controlled or run by robots but they weren't waiting to stop it.

The hatches on the bottom of the airship opened and released several dozens bombs.

"You better have made the basement strong enough" Shadow said seriously cross armed.

"It will hold"

Unknown to Eggman or his robots the entire town had been put inside the secret cave under the town. In there Tails had reinforced the supports and made it much harder to destroy that area of ground. Basically they were tricking Eggman into thinking that he killed them all. But in reality they'd leave later and bring all the food and animals with them. That's why everything had to be destroyed. If any bit of Eggman's equipment was left functional they'd been seen leaving and be discovered and hunted down.

The bombs came plummeting down and ignited anything it touched. The fire consuming the town in a matter of seconds. Like Shadow predicted he used fire bombs over actual bombs since it was easier, required a little less precision and was also more deadly.

Silver looked mortified, this was his home, his friends home. The place where he had decided was important enough to protect and show who he truly was. Now it was burning to the ground… all the effort he and Shadow had put into keeping it safe was now gone. But if everything went well everyone would be ok. That was more important.

For about half an hour they watched as the town burned down, the buildings falling and crumbling agonizingly slowly. The airship slowly started floating away it's mission done.

Another half an hour the companions waited watching the last of the flames consume Shadow and Silvers home before finally sizzling away.

Silver used his powers to quickly fly Tails and Fiona back while Shadow dashed ahead.

Coming to a stop near the secret entrance everyone took a deep breath of suspense except Tails who was still confident in his abilities.

The two hedgehogs dug through the fresh ashes and eventually found the entrance still intact which raised their hopes.

Opening the door they coughed as the ash was kicked up and finally looked inside.

"Is anyone down there?" Shadow whispered.

Max the bear came into the light "We're a little shaken, but we're all ok"

Shadow smiled along with Silver. Fiona smiled warmly behind them and even Tails managed a short smile.

With everyone ok they proceeded to get everyone out plus the animals and food.

When people came out they had the same faces of dread Silver had watching the town burn. This had been their homes for nearly two years. It wasn't much but it was theirs. Now they'd have to leave and find new homes, they couldn't even all go together. To avoid suspicion they'd all have to split up into atleast twenty groups and travel to different new towns. But harder then that was keeping the live stock and food out of sight. That was something Tails just couldn't plan for.

Some people were heading East back the way Fiona and Tails had come, Fiona trying to be nice told those groups that if they happened to get to her town, drop her name and the town would help them in anyway they could. Everyone there owed her a favor.

So at this point the towns people were on their own. It was better than they had before Tails made that plan but they had a chance now. That was enough for Shadow and Silver.

With everyone moving off in different directions the four heroes stood in the ashes and stared at one another.

Silver awkwardly broke the long silence "So…." He scratched his quills "We hired?' he jokingly asked hoping to break the ice.

Fiona smiled and looked to Tails "I think they are worth taking along right?"

Tails nodded, not even reluctantly "We need all the help we can get, Shadow is already a proven fighter and from what I saw Silver can handle himself. Yes you're hired" he played along with Silver smiling to the two.

Shadow nodded "Then we better get moving. You mentioned an underground lab, I assume that's where we're going?"

Silver chuckled "Guess, we're the fearsome four now right?"

"Please don't call us that" Tails said turning and walking as everyone else followed.

Shadow and Silver took one last look at their former home before they went over a hill and Silver asked "We're gonna make Eggman pay right?"

Shadow nodded and said brutally "He's gonna pay for every single life he's taken. And I will finally have resolution on one mystery I haven't been able to answer for nearly two years"

 **Ahhh so that's chapter 7. I think that's just under 6k if you subtract the two authors notes.**

 **Anyway I wanted to do some action but also show some growth of Tails.**

 **Also did you like the plan cause I was trying to figure out a more full proof plan but couldn't. Maybe it was unexpected atleast.**

 **Second this chapter has been proof read so seriously tell me if there's a problem or two cause I want to see if I'm bullshitting myself when I proof read. Lastly what is Shadow talking about with the mystery. Well I know for sure you'll have to guess.**

 **Live long and prosper**

 **Admiralkirk**


	8. Can't trust anyone-camp lamp story

**A/N Hello red shirts, your time sacrificed here will be greatly remembered. Haha**

 **Anyway thanks for reading and I'm glad to see some positive words, thanks for that Starfoxfan123. I'm trying to find the moment to introduce the fifth and final(guaranteed) addition to the cast. Sadly it's proving harder to figure out how they'd get there and for what reason. Maybe I'll figure out something while I'm working.**

 **Second "DaddlerTheDalek" I'm glad you like Silver already. The fact he's from 200 years in the future I honestly didn't know the exact number I just knew he was from the future(duh) But thanks for letting me know and unfortunately for this small problem I'm gonna say fuck it and say he was born 200 years earlier)**

 **Also like always let me know about any problems(just be nice about it) I greatly appreciate it all.**

Silver layed down to sleep while the other three companions sat around the heating lamp. Shadow was messing with his leg brace, infact he did that whenever anyone hadn't been watching him during the walk as well. Only Tails seemed to notice it.

The younger fox was looking over his weapon and keeping it clean, ash was rarely good for sensitive equipment.

Fiona was sitting cross legged trying to relax in the warmth from the lamp, her tail swishing left and right.

After some quiet Shadow finished with his leg brace and asked "So is there a plan for attacking Eggman?"

"Not right now, I haven't seen the fort in a few months so I'm sure there's new stuff. I'll need to scout it out again" Tails said still cleaning off his weapon with a cloth.

Fiona nodded "All we know for sure of what might still be there is from some scouting Tails did almost a year ago" only knowing this because she had asked on their long walk when it was just the two of them.

Tails continued "I saw no viable way in on my own so I gave up for the time being. I even noticed inferred scanners and other sensors that would make my cloaking useless" he explained.

The fox seemed to want to say more as he placed his weapon in a nice spot "We're gonna need a lot of luck, skill and precision to make this work. I'd make something to bypass everything but sadly with tech being rare now I can't do much. All the stuff you see me using are either stuff I can easily produce or were made before all this happened"

Shifted "What exactly do you have?"

The fox started running ideas through everything in his mind "Well I got more weapons like this, varying in size and power. I've got this suit packed with attachments all over. A generator that runs on fusion so it is self sustainable. Sensors all over so I know where anything vibrating the ground is…"

Fiona chuckled "So that's how you knew I was around everytime"

Tails didn't like the interruption but continued "I've got food that can last me years, an AI that runs my entire place, small bots I designed for various tasks, and a few vehicles I haven't used in a long time"

"You have cars!?" Fiona gawked.

He nodded.

"How would you fuel them if you used them?" Shadow asked.

"That was something that took me awhile to figure out, but my AI did a seismic scan and I was in luck. A natural gas deposit was about a mile away, I reconfigured them to use the gas and stored a bunch of it for later use" The fox explained happy for his good fortune.

"Well lucky you" Fiona smiled, Tails thought she was patronizing him.

It was quiet again until finally Fiona broke the silence. She had been wondering why Tails asked this, so asked for him, at the very least to keep them all talking "Tails, aren't you the least bit curious what happened to everyone once you left?" gesturing to Shadow since he had stayed with them. Well stayed with them was strong, more like stayed in contact.

"No not really" he said truly wanting to just sleep.

"Then why not explain to Shadow why you left?" she continued, Shadows face was unreadable, neither of them knew if he cared or not.

Something told the younger fox he'd have to explain at some point and with Silver asleep he shrugged.

"Well Shadow you know how it started, because of _her_ " he spat the last word like poison.

The ebony hedgehog nodded.

"After that things went as normal, I seemed normal. I stuck with everyone and didn't really change until a few years later. It was subtle but at first I just felt like being alone more. Almost like a voice or urge telling me to spend less time with everyone. Except Sonic, I still hung out with him when I had time" Tails explained the beginning of his slow decent.

"But soon when I got older my abilities were recognized by the government, they offered me a proposal, contracts and grants. My friends weren't the most… supportive…"

Flashback… Tails at age 15

"Wait they want to hire you?" Sonic asked sitting next to his friends.

The fox had grown a bit through the years, his ears getting longer making up a decent amount of his height. With them he nearly matched the blue heroes height. He was still mostly like his normal self with the addition of bags under his eyes from over working lately.

"Ya, but not quite like that. They are willing to offer me contracts and let me work independently with their money. Basically they will pay for what I do but the trade off is they own whatever I make them" Tails sounded excited, he could finally start making a name for himself as a great inventor like he dreamed to do.

"So essentially they'd own you?" Sonic asked not liking the sound of that.

"It's not quite like that. It's like being told to do work at any other place. They tell you to hammer a nail you do it, but in the end you don't own the house" he used an example off the top of his head.

"You already spend less time with the rest of us and this will only encourage you to distance yourself more. I don't want that buddy" he looked sad and depressed.

Tails frowned not liking to see his best friend so sad yet also found it a bit frustrating that he didn't want him to follow his dreams. It brought something up he locked away, ran away from but felt a lot recently. A whisper of words he had tried to forget…. To get past it. He couldn't tell what it said or who said it but it was there.

"But Sonic this is what I want, you know more than anyone his is my dream to become a famous inventor and change the world" hoping that would be enough to make his friend understand.

"What about the freedom fighters though…. We need ya" his plead for the fox to reconsider.

His lack of support only frustrated the fox more and he stood "Listen, I don't stomp on your dreams do I?" a small growl in his throat suddenly having the feeling that Sonic was holding him back, the voice in his mind getting stronger yet still inaudible.

"What!? No I'm not stomping on anything, I just want you to understand what we're all thinking, nobody is trying to stop you" Sonic defended surprised by the boys aggression.

"Sure doesn't sound like it, all you've done it explain why it's a bad idea how it will effect all of you. Nobody thinks about what I want or how this will help me. I'm taking this whether you like this or not" Tails yelled turning to walk away afterwards disappointed in his supposed friends.

"Tails wait, please I didn't mean it that way! I don't care if you take it I just want to know if you won't forget us!"

Tails turned and glared at the hedgehog stopping him in his tracks "Why you afraid you can't save the day without my gadgets and tools. I'm sure you can handle these problems on your own" he growled but continued "I loved doing this but constantly having the pressure of the world on my back, it's hard. All I want is to do something I want to do instead of zone hop all over and save the world from crazy egg shaped freaks. Unlike you I want to slow down, to be more then just a fighter"

Sonic was stunned by his words, a mix of attack and brutal honesty in them.

"I just want know if we'll stay friends" he whispered trying to ignore what he said but couldn't.

"Considering how little you have been supporting me despite me always being by your side before, we'll have to see"

"What, wait!"

Before Sonic could do anything else Tails went into his lab and locked the door wanting to blow off steam by working on something. When he calmed he called the number the government left and accepted their offer. He heard several people knock on his door asking him to come out and just talk but he couldn't look at any of them right now.

The voice in his mind was vague but it sounded female now, it made his heart ache but also made his blood boil. Not knowing who it was or what it was saying only made him more angry until he finally made a bad move welding something wrong.

He cursed "Crap" very uncharacteristic seeing the metal warped badly and growled.

"Why won't any of them support me, all they've been doing is trying to deter me. Nobody, not even Sonic told me I should go for it. Wasn't it him who said best friends always encourage eachother even when the idea is stupid?

The voice got louder as these thoughts rolled around is mind. He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed before taking a deep breath to calm himself.

After some breathing he finally calmed and the voice disappeared. Thankful he kept working like normal and eventually came out when everyone gave up.

That was the start, where he truly started to become the new him. His distance only grew with his new responsibilities. Eventually he found his small lab inadequate for his work and convinced the government to build him a new lab. To keep his work secret it was underground, he later added more to it like it was in the present.

He stayed with the Freedom fighters despite all this and their lack of encouragement. Although his methods slowly changed, he hardly cared about being nice to bad guys after awhile. At some point he nearly killed Eggman but was stopped at the last second by Sonic allowing the fat man to escape.

That was another moment where Tails grew more distrustful of his friends. It seemed pointless to him to allow a bad guy mercy. Like a child who got leniency or their punishment was cut short it showed they could do it again with little to no consequence. Only a swift killing blow would stop Eggman and nobody seemed willing to do it or allow someone who was to do it for them.

This only distanced Tails even further, he slowly became a liability in the Freedom fighters eyes, his instability, anger and aggression becoming a problem. One of them even mentioned that Tails reminded them of Shadow more and more each.

It was dreadfully accurate though, Tails slowly came to admire Shadows ruthless efficiency. He slowly believed Shadow was a better role model than Sonic was. Sonic didn't have the guts to create real change and truly save the world, Shadow would kill to finish a threat if he had to.

Once again this brought Tails to a disturbing but fake conclusion in his mind. Sonic was always bored, restless and edgy when there was no bad guy to fight frequently enough. It made him think that Sonic purposely let his enemies escape knowing they'd be back and keep the rush of being a hero forever.

Of course this was all in his mind and untrue, It was simply a case of morals. He never spoke of this to Sonics face but it created yet more tension between the two. They were hardly friends at all at that point, even Sonic gave up, with very heavy regret.

Finally Tails' reckless actions become too much and he was unanimously kicked out of the Freedom fighters, nobody wanted it, but at the same time did. He used to be their friend and everyone had varying opinions on whether he was redeemable, but they all agreed he was dangerous to himself and others.

To some of the fighters surprise he didn't seem to mind, he almost accepted it gladly. All his stuff was in his new lab so he quickly left, hardly passing glances or goodbyes. By now he hardly trusted them, festering mental wounds he hadn't realized existed yet effected him. All the time he fell to this state the voice was always there. Unidentifiable yet familiar. It angered him yet made him want to cry, it made his inside hurts but his anger would usually overcome it. It was a mystery to him for a long time.

After he left he didn't keep touch with any of them, he truly felt they were all using him and upon hearing he was working for other people tried to subtly bring him back. Dumping him after all these years though was him doing things differently. They were afraid of real change, he wanted real change.

So he became a vigilante in his spare time. Hoping whenever he went out he could find clues, information or anything on his previous enemies. Besides that he would help anyone who needed help when he was nearby. He had his fair share of saving old woman from losing their purse. Only difference was the bad guy would end up nearly beaten to death and promising he'd go straight. Some actually did.

Only once did he find a previous bad guy and finished him. He got a call from the Freedom fighters on his cell phone recently after that, he was sure they were pissed off or wanted to ask what happened to the guy hoping he might know something. Whatever their possible questions or accusations were he never even bothered to listen to it. To him they weren't worth his time.

His promise to the government was fulfilled, he created a few new things, even finally being the one to perfect fusion making it a viable energy source now. So he only got more funding for his good work, he didn't need it all to complete his major work and secretly a ton of it went into side projects like upgrading his arsenal and eventually his suit. It wasn't how it was in the present, he upgraded through out his time.

His mechanical prowess allowed him to make a few vehicles for himself but like he would say in the future he never really used them, more to distract himself.

The AI that would eventually become his single companion for two years wasn't his mother. Infact it was hardly an AI. It was more accurately a virtual intelligence, it could do everything he needed but it wouldn't think on it's own.

One night though was what finally brought him to realize why and how this had all come to happen. About a year before Eggmans ultimate plan was initiated Tails was out in the night. Like always he was hunting. Looking down at his list of potential quarry "Hmmm… The Babylon Rouges, that sounds like a good one to go for right now" he spoke to himself .

He was wearing his suit, it wasn't quite as heavily armored as it was in the present and the grey coloring was now black to blend with the night. He hadn't heard the voice in awhile in his mind, but that now worried him. Every time it came to him he would do what he felt was right. His instincts told him not to stay with his friends or distance himself. It even made him believe that death was better then allowing them to live.

His mind was broken from a shout for help and his head spun in that direction already on the move. He ran to the edge of the building and saw a mobian running from a female mobian and noticed he had stolen from her. This guy looked familiar, a few weeks ago, yes that was it. He was stealing a few weeks ago…. He healed up pretty fast.

He sighed realizing not only was this guy a thief but a liar since he promised to never do it again. The fact he gave second chances to these parasites was a simple mercy he begrudgingly allowed. But a second chance was nothing he gave anymore.

Pulling out his rifle he aimed and with ease tagged the guys leg causing him to fall and skid to a stop.

The fox made his way to the bleeding man and upon seeing him the male mobian cowered in fear "No wait man, please you got to understand!"

"Shut up rat. I gave you a chance to live and you spit in my face. I warned you and you lied to me. People don't lie to me" his voice synthesized by his mask giving him an even more menacing tone.

"Hey man it's just a purse, cool it!" he begged.

Tails was taking no bullshit from him this time and approached kicking the already crouching man to his back and stepped on his neck poised to snap it with a simple twist of his foot.

The man gagged and pleaded to him with his eyes but Tails tensed ready to finish him off.

Although right as he was about to a rush of wind came by and knocked him away. He grunted quickly standing and drawing his combat knife and turned seeing someone he had hoped to never see again.

Standing over the man was the blue hedgehog he once called his best friend, now he only felt disgust, and betrayal from him.

"Back away" he growled to the hero, somehow hoping that he wouldn't notice his double tails and recognize him.

"He's just a purse snatcher, he doesn't deserve to die, you back off" Sonic yelled placing himself in between the bleeding man and the vigilante.

"He's not just a thief but a liar, I gave him a chance and he wasted it" Tails growled tightening his grip on his knife incase the hedgehog made any sudden moves.

"Then throw him to the police, he'll be punished!"

Tails laughed "Right, just like how you punish Eggman, I'm sure he stays up at night knowing his robots got damaged and that he's perfectly fine" his sarcasm was heavy.

Sonic glared at him and said "Doesn't mean I'm willing to kill somebody, there's a reason laws exist. It's not within my power to decide peoples fate"

"Eggman would gladly kill you ten times over, take over the world and enslave everyone and you think he's not worth killing. You're just weak and can't do what truly needs to be done. What are you teaching him by showing him mercy? That he can always try again and refine his plans? Or that no matter what you will never have the guts to truly stop him. Besides I bet you let him escape on purpose. You always did have a problem with settling down" Tails accidentally revealed who he was in his anger.

"So it really is you Tails….?" Sonic face softened sad to see how far his friends fell "What happened to you buddy?"

"I'M NOT YOUR BUDDY ANYMORE!" Tails screamed at him.

Sonic flinched at the angry voice his ears tilting back, but he recomposed himself "Tails, this isn't you. You used to understand. Why'd you change" he wanted answers.

"Because I realized what needed to be done, you are too much of a coward to understand!" Tails panted from yelling that loud it was taking his breath away.

"How am I a coward, I don't lower myself to this level" pointing to the bleeding man who had no choice but to listen to the heated conversation.

"Sometimes you need to get to this level to do what's truly right" Tails growled.

Sonic once again asked "What happened to you… we used to be friends, we all used to be able to count on you…"

Tails froze for a moment hearing those words and whispered "Can't count on anyone…" whispers in his mind became clear, they shouted at him "YOU CAN'T COUNT ON ANYONE!"

"Tails, listen to me!" Sonic yelled getting his attention.

The fox was done here, he threw his knife at the hedgehog who gasped ducking to avoid it but as he turned the fox was gone. Unknown to him he used his cloak to escape.

The fox was now on a building about a mile away and panted not because he was tired but because his mind was all over, like having a panic attack but not at all.

He threw his helmet to the ground and growled holding his head and shaking it "It's so obvious now… _she_ did this to me"

"You can't count on anyone" the phased spoke in his mind over and over, he even felt the pain in his cheek again.

He fell to his knees feeling himself understand now "I couldn't trust any of them, I couldn't trust her. She betrayed us and they held me back. She was right all along" his hands clenched shaking as years of pent up frustration finally welled up as his frustration to understand finally was realized.

He wanted to scream in anger and success but couldn't feeling his body tremble… she had been right all this time. After all she did, broke his heart, hurt him, used him he had to admit she was right.

He hated her yet had to admit to himself she had known all along the truth of the world. No one could be trusted besides yourself. You use others and stab them in the back and that was how you survived. She knew it and now he knew. No one would use him again. He would always be ready to use them back just like they did on him or stab them in the back first.

Present…

Both Fiona and Shadow stared at the younger fox, his story keeping them stunned. His transformation was unbelievable. He had come so far only for a few words to destroy his life and turn him into a cold solitary hunter and now a lone survivor.

Fiona eventually looked away finally hearing the full extent of her actions to his character; he left his friends behind without a care nor regretted it to this day. He disconnected his life from everyone, even Sonic.

And in a way it was all her fault, it made her feel sick. Although she wouldn't allow either of them to see her get distraught.

Shadow though looked at the young man for a long time unwavering, he believed everything he said. His eyes said it all. But even Shadow knew Tails was broken, and needed to be fixed. Perhaps not now, he was what they needed right now. Someone willing to get the job done. Fixing him would sadly have to wait.

"We should probably get some sleep" Shadow finally breathed out, even for him it was awkward. He was afraid Tails' recounting would make him even more angry and attack Fiona, he wanted them to sleep but was gonna stay up awhile and keep that from happening if it did.

Both foxes agreed not wanting to look at one another and soon layed down eyes closed. The fighting got them tired and for once sleep was solace.

Shadow stayed awake for another hour making sure Tails had gone to sleep before following their example.

"He is fury and pain, a few years of loneliness and already having a hard past… poor kid" Shadow said to himself as he layed on his side. Hopefully he'd start to gain some of his old self back but he doubted that, especially with Fiona around. But like he said before right now they needed the bad Tails who was willing to get the job done.

 **So here we are the full recounting Tails' past I hope it was worth the wait. I tried to figure out a way to show how descended in a semi understandable manor and I hope I conveyed it properly. But it really lets you understand how long these wounds have been festering now in his mind. I hope it was good and I hope you guys are ok it was simply a story telling chapter but I felt I needed this out of the way before I could move forward. Lastly I just want to know if I made Sonic not sound like what Tails actually perceived him to be doing and just wanting him around. I just don't want to make Sonic seem like an asshole when I'm trying to make him just a friend saying he'll miss Tails if he left.**

 **Live long and prosper**

 **Admiralkirk**


	9. Just some more guests

**A/N Hey people and things here's chapter nine.**

 **In response to a question a guest had called Shade of Naxx I appreciate the kind words first of all but second to your question. *** **Ahem** *** that's a secret. (Constantly raising my eyebrows like the twit I am) haha, but yes Fiona and Tails being a couple is a secret I am purposely teasing to mess with you all. Someone sort of asked this before and my response as basically the same… "You'll see" muhahahahahaha.**

 **Ya sorry to anyone who was expecting this out sooner, I kinda just stopped getting ideas for this chapter, I hate that it took so long and when I did feel like writing again Halo 5 came out. So angry with myself. So anyway this is the next chapter and I hope it's fun. I have an idea to make Tails look even more broken then he already is(Not to mention creepy) and I had been debating it awhile, but I think I'm gonna do it mostly from lack of real ideas.**

 **On with the show!**

Another day of walking. Tension was high even with so little words spoken. It seemed after Tails' recounting of his past any cooperation among all four of them was back down to the day they met.

Unlike Shadow and Fiona, Silver never heard the story so was confused by why everyone so quiet and the air felt so hostile. When he asked Shadow the older male simple told not to speak unless they spoke first, and if he did speak he should watch what he said.

Only rarely did Silver speak to his friend, which boiled down to him asking why everything was so awkward and what their plans were. Shadow refused to speak of either of these so eventually the young hedgehog gave up.

Fiona tried to keep away from the male fox, she felt too. A lot of the ease and trust she'd gained on him was gone after he remembered everything he lost. She could tell he was ready to kill her again on a moments notice. One plus was he seemed content with keeping her alive until he didn't need her anymore.

The first words spoken by the fox was around 4 pm in the day, Tails had a small watch in his suit and told everyone before saying "We're about a mile away"

Silver sighed "Can finally get off my feet" he gladly sighed.

Shadow just rolled his eyes taking a moment to fiddle with his leg brace again.

Fiona was glad too, the warm voice of Rosemary and the air-conditioned base would be very much more relaxing then this deafening silence.

She hung back with the two hedgehogs and said quietly "Hey first ground rule. Turn away when he's unlocking the place. Second don't go anywhere a door isn't open already. Third be nice to the other person in there"

"Other person?" Silver and Shadow asked at the same time.

Fiona chuckled "You'll see" her mischievous grin big a wide.

Shadow groaned hating surprises but Silver just looked confused still.

Like she said they all looked away while he accessed the door. A sharp hiss was heard and the door in the land was opened.

Tails then said "Only two can down at a time, so… who's coming with me?" if they planned any funny business, which he doubted considering why they were all here, he'd be in the base and have a hostage.

"Silver you go down first" Shadow suggested, he didn't want Fiona in a closed space with Tails right now.

So Silver did as was told and was already in awe just from the elevator and the hidden door. He quickly waved to Shadow hoping to see him in a minute or two and the doors closed.

The white hedgehog felt the elevator slide down into the earth and soon the doors opened…

…Above ground Shadow looked to Fiona as the doors closed crossed armed "Do you feel alright?" she was quiet which was usual, the few days he knew her personally she seemed to talk a lot.

"A little, been feeling a death mark over my head all day though" She frowned.

"I would too after what he said last night" he didn't cast any judging glances at her, he knew right now there was no need to fight or squabble. They needed to work together of they'd complete their goal.

Shadow stayed quiet until the elevator door opened again and said "Just don't piss him off and we'll get this ball rolling" following it up by walking into the small chamber.

She had nowhere to go but follow behind him and the door closed behind her almost catching her tail as it closed. The door opened again to reveal a sight the fox had seen a few times recently. Shadow looked around only slightly impressed. Tails had explained he had government resources to help. Course the government always had a tendency to buy from the lowest priced stuff that still managed to work. This was nothing like what he'd seen at Eggman's fortress. He actually made his own high quality tech or, before he burned everything down, bought higher quality stuff.

Either way it still better than anything he'd seen from anyone in the wasteland. Next to Eggman this could possibly be the most advanced facility still functioning in the world.

Unlike Fiona and Shadow, Silver was in awe. He'd never seen anything like it. Despite most of it being caves walls it was still amazing. He could see into a proper looking functioning kitchen, and a rec room. He hadn't even seen the better stuff yet.

"This isn't even fair Tails, we live in those crappy shacks and you get all this, just way too unfair" he said eager to look around even more had Tails not told him to stay put and wait.

"So this is the legendary foxes new work space… where's all the tools and gadgets" the dark hedgehog said slowly approaching.

"Further inside of course" seemingly not realizing that his question wasn't serious.

"You got gadgets and junk like that, man this is so cool" Silver cheered.

Fiona rolled her eyes behind the two males and wanted to say something like "Sorry, he won't let ya back there because of trust issues" but knew that would only anger him and like Shadow said, she shouldn't anger him right now.

"Then we'll just have to earn it" Shadow huffed making Silver nod in agreement.

"Well for now I need you to meet someone, I'm sure Fiona has told you about her already?" he said not really caring if she had or hadn't.

"So it's a her, you got a girlfriend?" the white hedgehog asked trying to make sense of things.

"What… no… what'd she tell you?" his face contorted to disgust at the idea.

"Barely anything" Shadow said.

"That's surprising, but come on" he waved them forward and said "Say hi"

"Hello boys, it's so good to see Tails has come back alright and with more friends" Rosemary's voice came from seemingly nowhere.

Silver jumped at the voice "Huh… who's that?"

Fiona chuckled at his reaction and almost explained but Tails beat her "That is the AI that runs this place. Her name is Rosemary… or mum coming from me" he clarified.

"Wait the robotic voice is your mom!?" Silver said confused thinking the fox had literally put his mothers brain in there.

"No, dumbass, I did my best to recreate her" Tails said irritated by his stupidity.

He flinched back ears curled back but Rosemary spoke for him "Miles, be kind to your guests" His response was a roll of the eyes.

A short moment of silence came over them so Fiona walked forward "Think you should show them around?" she tried not to sound pushy.

"Ya…. I guess so" The male fox grumbled "Come on" he turned to begin the short tour.

"Any door that's open you can go in and out freely, any that are closed you either have to ask or aren't allowed in, period" he explained walking by several doors.

Silver whined "What's so bad behind them? Is one room totally irradiated?"

"Maybe" Tails said trying to scare him.

Fiona snickered quietly at the worried face Silver had for a moment but kept quiet wanting Tails to finish this and settle in.

Like with Fiona Tails showed them the few areas he was willing to allow them into right now, the control room, recreation room kitchen, and bathroom. He continued like he were showing another room but no other doors were open, it got Fionas heart pounding cause now she'd be able to see inside one of the mystery doors.

It wasn't much of a surprise if she had given it any thought. When he opened the door and turned on the light it revealed a room with a few beds.

"Since your town is gone and have nowhere else to go you can sleep here. Just keep them clean, tidy up every morning and get decent amount of sleep incase things come up" He didn't sound angry, it was just general rules that most places had.

He then walked out and quickly pointed to the door to the left "The washer and drier, among other things, is in there it will be unlocked"

"Thanks, we'll be respectful" Fiona spoke but instantly regretted saying it.

He rolled his eyes "Ya, whatever" he walked away to allow them to acclimate but mostly to get away from them. It had been the longest time he'd been with real people in years and it was hard and grinding on his nerves.

Fiona looked away once again feeling distant from the male. It wasn't even something she could blame him for. After hearing his story she had finally dropped the idea that it wasn't entirely her fault for his change. The worst part was is he hated her yet embraced her words. It confused her but rarely did anything make sense in her life.

Her thoughts were broken hearing Silver say "These beds are so comfy, I might actually be able to wake up and not have to snap my back into place" as he layed down and sighed loudly.

Shadow seemed to agree but only because he sat down on another and seemed to relax slightly.

Fiona looked to Shadow and asked "Do you he'll keep me around? He's got you and Silver. You both far exceed me in power so why would he need me now"

"You have some skills none of us possess. You are far more agile and acrobatic then us…"

"Ya and when you can run fast and Silver can fly at the speed of sound, that's redundant" crossing her arms.

"… You are more then likely a better shot then all of us, I can't speak for Tails but you seem to use those often" pointing to the pistols on her waist. I may be known to use weapons but I've never tested my long range skills"

"Alright so that's one, and it's a maybe anyway cause Tails might out do me"

Shadow huffed "If we ever equire Tails to do his hacking, mechanical skills or anything else you'll be our second best. You'll give us options"

She shrugged but agreed there "So what else do I bring?"

Shadow got awkward thinking of this one "Well…. I hate to say it but you… and please don't get angry at me but…. You're a female, and an attractive one at that"

She froze realizing what he meant "What? Are you suggesting…. That…. I use my figure… for whatever reason we may need?"

"Yes, I never said give over your body, I mean once you've tricked them you can clearly take someone out, but point is, it's an important tool you have over all of us. Which means in essence you are our best tool to deceit"

"So it's finally come, the day where y best use is being boobs" she wasn't happy with it but also realized that it could a be a powerful tool, especially now that world essentially had no rules.

"You are also quiet and good at sneaking around, you haven't shown me in at all yet but your footsteps are light and you are agile yet quiet" he explained.

Silver then said "And you did manage to convince Tails to let you help despite his feeling against you, so you probably have a way with words or bargaining"

Shadow had a quick smile, the fact Silver thought of that showed that him mentoring the younger hedgehog was actually working.

Fiona managed a smile "And I got a connections around where I lived, I know it's a small area but I got people who will give me information around there"

"So you have your uses, Tails is the brain you have skills that are relatively all over the place and Silver and I look to be the fighters with exceptional powers" the ebony hedgehog stroking his own ego for a second.

"I guess, just don't be surprised to see me gone one day and never coming back" her spine tingling "So the place is nice right?" trying to change the subject.

"Ya this place is cool, can't believe this place has gone unfound by Eggman for so long" Silver praised.

"And I suggest we play by Miles' rules, he obviously has a system and rules to keep himself hidden, and we follow it. Understand?" Shadows eyes baring down on Silver who just chuckled nervously "Uh… ya, of course"

"Thought you'd look at me" Fiona joked.

Shadow just eyed her "I've been watching, you 've been playing nice since we got here, not as joking and purposely avoiding aggravating him" he nodded letting her know that was good.

Fiona on the other hand just smiled "So I guess we better get settled, take some time to rest. I'm sure Tails will have working soon"

Both hedgehogs nodded and promptly went to sleep for awhile. The comfy beds must have been way better than anything they had back at their old home because they were out like lights.

Fiona though stayed up awhile and walked out to see where Tails had gone. No doors were opened and no light was on in any of them besides the control room, but the computer screens may have done that.

So she walked that way and instead of listening in for secret conversations she made herself known. Spying on Tails wasn't gonna get her anywhere, and he probably had a camera or sensor incase someone did do that.

"Hey Tails, what's up?" she asked seeing him going over basic diagnostic tests.

He visually tensed as his ringed ear flicked. His worked paused for half a second but replied "Checking to see if everythings in order, mum would tell me everythings ok but that's because she doesn't want me to worry"

The female fox smiled but Rosemary beat her "You have so much to worry about, I can handle problems"

"Still doesn't mean I like to check myself" he said trying to be explain.

Fiona continued to smile behind him realizing there was still a heart in his chest. He wouldn't admit it but he cared for Rosemary and wanted to make sure she was running properly.

Letting the moment go by, she was sure Rosemary could see her smile, she finally spoke again "SO what's the plan now?"

"See if we can find anyone else who can help and collect supplies I can use" Tails briefed her quickly wanting her gone.

"I'll see if anyone has heard anything back home, assuming I can get back without the bots questioning me for such a long absence, besides I'll probably be a fugitive now since my face was on Eggmans cameras during the fighting"

Tails paused fist clenched "Ya, I thought about that too. If you plan on doing that you'll have to go at night and stay out of sight and make sure everyone stays quiet"

"Or I could use your stealth suit to get in and avoid…"

"NO, you are not touching my suit, it's the only one I have. Second I don't want your smell in it" he growled looking back at her.

The female really wanted to make a bad joke about him wanting to avoid her scent but decided against it and shrugged "Fine, I got my ways in anyway"

"Then why ask?" he asked in an annoyed tone.

"Cause it's a cool suit and it would be easier" she chuckled leaning against the doorframe.

He just rolled his eyes and swiveled back to the keyboard on his chair.

"What are the other two doing?"

"Sleeping" she said.

"Good idea, but I'm sure you wanted to annoy me more"

"No Tails, I wanted to talk. I'm not your enemy, we're allies. You may not like it but that's how it is. I could have been far more annoying since we got back but I've decided to tone it down just for you ok" Her voice serious.

He paused again and sighed "…. I know, and it's pretty obvious I don't like it" he sighed again "But you are right, I got to get over what happened so we can work. That is gonna be hard, you did ruin who I am after all"

Fiona frowned and looked down, she sighed too "At first I didn't believe you but…. Maybe I did… at the very least I had a big part in it… I'm sorry. I know it means nothing, and I know you will probably never trust me or want to see me again if we make it through this. I would've done things differently now had I known what I know now. I risked my life several times for Scourge and he left me for dead. Goes to show how much of a mistake I made. The freedom fighters never betrayed me… I don't want forgiveness, I just needed you to hear that" she sighed again and slowly left to go take her nap now. She was slouched and sad and didn't bother to wait for his response.

Back in the room Tails had listened to every word, her apology, admitting she was wrong and that she did have, atleast, a partial role in his fall. It took him awhile due to hard thinking but he went back to work not planning on sleeping any time soon. He had things to get to.

 **I'm sorry this took too long to come out and feels SOOOOOOO lag luster in size compared to other chapters. Like I said above I finally started to get into league a lot especially now that I'm in the PBE(basically I'm a tester before new features go live for anyone who doesn't know the terminology) Plus, like I said, halo 5 came out and it is so much better than halo 4 in the multiplayer area. Far more balanced and requires far more skill to succeed. Just in general more fulfilling.**

 **So thanks for reading nd I know it probably sucks and you probably wanted more but that's it. Sorry about that guys.**

 **Live long and prosper**

 **Admiralkirk95**


	10. First mission

**A/N Ok so long story short I didn't want to write and lots of work, lots of other stuff to do. So that's my explanation on why this took so damn long.**

 **It's been awhile and I had to actually re-read a few chapters to remember a few things. But I got my bearings again.**

 **Also I read a review awhile back from Archaon. You had a problem with Sonic being kinda a jerk. I'm sorry I meant make him subtly not want to Tails to leave because he could see where the fox was going. That he was drifting away. I realize I didn't convey that properly and will hopefully try to fix that somehow. So sorry for making Sonic a jerk I didn't mean it.**

About a week since the quad of Mobians joined forces things were getting easier. The hardest transitions were learning how to live together and follow Tails' rules. It was also hard, but not easily apparent, that Shadow was having a hard time working for someone else.

The ebony hedgehog had been running a town for nearly two years and now he was suddenly second fiddle to angry fox that was younger than him. It hadn't happened often but he questioned the little foxes decisions sometimes. Like how he wasn't allowed to go out as much as he wanted. Silver was annoying him in these closed corridors. He liked the kid and, even if he didn't realize it, had a fatherly-like relationship with him.

Silver didn't have a hard time adjusting; because of his mimicking behavior to follow Shadow and listen to him he would do whatever the dark hedgehog said. He may have had problems with some of the foxes rules but he still told Silver to obey. In general the new arrivals followed the rules well and integrated with mostly no incident.

Like Fiona had said she left for awhile to check on her network. It wasn't refined but it worked well so far. She didn't learn much but got some general information on patrols and some rumors. Nothing truly worth going after.

When she returned she was a little surprised. Her patrol info was apparently different than Tails. He seemed happy to have an update on the information.

The fox also opened up a few rooms for then realizing he was being a little hard on rules. Among all these new rooms was a testing room for the various weapons he made. Shadow liked it since he was able to check his skills with weapons.

Silver had near no experience with such things and his telekinesis was a far more powerful tool. So besides some basics rules and techniques from Shadow he decided to not use his own powers.

The dark hedgehog still had someone to compete with in skill. Like Shadow had mentioned Fiona was quite skilled with her hand guns. They were near equal. He found it refreshing to be able to blow off some steam, and bullets.

Tails also gave them access to other equipment to some equipment. Nothing to extensive but it gave them some more pockets, holsters and light apparel.

Despite how simple they seemed knee pads and elbow pads were hard to come by, and make shift ones were uncomfortable, but Tails had them. He also had proper holsters for weapons instead of tattered, put together crap that Fiona had. The strap actually got tight and were very form fitting allowing them all free movement.

Mostly it was for equipment they'd use including communicators, gadgets, and tools. Not to mention their more specific stuff. Fiona and her two pistols and a pocket to hold specially made EMP grenades. She was still surprised Tails offered her even that much.

Shadow added to his equipment grabbing a small shotgun that would hang off his lower back that he could slide out from the side. What nobody knew was he had a pocket for some pain meds. Only mum knew this, she saw the discomfort and subtle pain he'd been feeling from his leg and nearly two years of fighting on it and knew it hurt. So behind Tails' back she offered something to help him.

Lastly was Silver he didn't carry much besides the stuff that everyone else had except some snacks. Mostly sugary snacks. The little fox didn't like it because they were in limited supply but as Silver had explained, extensive use of his powers got tiring and the snacks helped.

They also got light armor, nothing to protect from bullets since Tails was short on supplies to offer anything that heavy duty but more physical damage would be mitigated. Like falls or melee attacks.

Silver was sitting around fiddling with some rocks he got from outside, using his powers to assemble them in different ways or generally making them fly through the air to amuse himself.

Unfortunatly in his state he'd semi zoned out and as Tails passed by a rock nearly hit him in the face "Hey watch out pot head!"

"Huh? Oh sorry" he gasped making all the rocks land on the table nearby.

"Could have knocked me unconscious!" the fox continued still angry. "I said I was sorry ok?"

The fox rolled his eyes at him and walked away mumbling something about how living alone was so much nicer.

Silver just sighed throwing his face in his palms then slowly wiped down his face taking some sand from his eyes.

"God I'm so bored, what are we even waiting for?"

"An opportunity, just like back at our old place" Shadow said, he'd bee quietly sitting on the couch napping, Tails yelling woke him up.

"Ya but we had more people to speak, jobs, and things to do" the white hedgehog whined.

Shadow rolled his eyes and wanted to eventually teach Silver how to pre occupy himself with his mind alone. He was able to do it sometimes but not consistently, usually when he was so focused on something his mind drifted, not when he felt bored.

While they argued Tails went to Mums control room and asked "So any news today?"

"Actually you may find this interesting. I detected a single contact near edges of our territory. Shortly after it disappeared multiple contacts followed, the formation was typical of Eggbots, they were moving faster than a normal patrol"

The fox's ear flicked and asked further "How long ago?"

"The group was last detected only half an hour ago, the first contact had a ten minute head start"

Tails had a feeling someone was in trouble and quickly brought up the readings on his screen to inspect for himself and hummed in thought. After a few moments he got up and went back to the two bickering hedgehogs "Get up, saw something on the sensors, someone being followed by eggbots"

"FINALLY!" Silver yelled running past the fox lightly pushing him to get his equipment. Tails almost went to smack him but sighed and told Shadow he'd meet them at the elevator"

Fiona was informed being forced from her peaceful sleep and grumbled something about having a nice dream for once.

With them all suited up Tails waited tapping his foot impatiently in his personal armor. He almost chastised them for being so slow but decided against it and went up the elevator with Shadow.

Silver and Fiona quickly followed and the four headed out to intercept signals. Since Fiona was the slowest of the four and couldn't fly Silver lifted her with his powers. Tails suggested fanning out a bit incase the contacts changed direction. Shadow slid off along the ash covered ground kicking up dust and ash going in his own direction.

Tails flew off in another while Fiona and Silver continued on in their original direction. Tails predicted that if the speed hadn't changed Shadow would get relatively where they were first in a minute or two. Silver and Fiona second since Silver could fly faster than Tails.

Very soon Shadow stopped as he found some foot prints, all eggbots. Reaching into his left pocket he had a small communicator Tails made "I found footprints, still heading East, still can't see anything"

Tails ' voice came back "Follow them, if you see them, figure out and details we may need to know, wait to engage unless something drastic happens. Like if they found the other contact and they mean it harm, or if they see you"

"Sure" the dark hedgehog replied and continued following at a slower pace.

Another few minutes passed with Silver and Fiona catching up.

"Seen anything?" the female asked the older male.

"Not much, tracks are getting fresher"

"Means we'll be ale to smash some bots soon" his eagerness very obvious.

"If they have this other contact and are infact chasing it then we can't just smash. They could kill them"

"Oh... right" Silver scratched his head feeling dumb.

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that" his mentor mumbled.

"Hey look" Fiona pointed ahead. There was a dust cloud building up ahead "That can't be natural"

The trio all agreed on that and ran to see what it was.

Tails was still getting there, only a minute or two away now so Fiona called him "Hey Tails, there's a dust cloud ahead, we're gonna check it out?"

"I see it too, be there soon"

After climbing a small hill the trio looked over the small lip and into a crater like formation in the ground. Inside were a couple eggbots. About eight in total. One was destroyed and another barely functioning, the others were shooting which was kicking up dust causing the cloud.

Because of the cloud it was hard to see. But something else was in the cloud besides the eggbots. They guessed it must have been the other signal.

"We can use the cloud to our advantage" Shadow commented ready to slide into the crater and join.

Fiona nodded getting to her feet and said "Time for some practice" right as she did a cry came from the cloud and the shooting stopped, time clearly of the essence now.

The fox and older hedgehog slid down the hill joining the fray while Silver quickly followed suit.

Almost instantly the eggbots noticed them and opened fire. The reaction time was too fast, they must have had upgrades.

Most took priority of Shadow and Silver for whatever reason with only two taking aim at Fiona.

Shadow quickly dove to the side but instead of shooting the bots held until he came out of the dive. They seemingly predicted his movements but didn't expect him to fire his jet shoes to travel further. If he hadn't he'd have been shot to a bloody pulp.

The extra action confused the bots apparently, seemingly losing him all together like they fully expected to kill him right then and there. The momentary stop in all action gave Shadow enough time to close distance and homing attacked the three threatening him.

At the same time Silver simply raised a psi barrier blocking all the bullets that went towards him. Once again the bots looked confused or couldn't understand what was happening as they expended their entire clips into the barrier. It made Silver laugh who simply pushed the barrier and the bullets stuck in it back at them destroying them in one massive attack.

Fiona drew her two pistols, it once again confused them, like they didn't expect her to draw a weapon. She, using her impressive aim, shot at the joint between their head and chest plate where a special component was and instantly shut them down.

The surprisingly easy battle was only noticed by Shadow, Fiona and Tails who showed up as they began and decided to watch thinking it'd be simple. The models were just simple eggbots, something they'd all fought before many times with ease. He noticed how awkward they acted and analyzed for anything that might indicate why.

His helmet brought up a few options, the first being dust damaged their systems, he disregarded that, the cloud had only been up for a minute. Defective units was next and he dropped that since Eggman kept all units in prime condition. The third and final option suggested that the bots ere programmed for a specific target, it was the only option that made sense. Considering they were confused by simple actions.

Following up on that his helmet analyzed connections to how they reacted. They predicted Shadows quick response and where he'd go but didn't predict his rocket skates. They prioritized Silver and Shadow or Fiona. They clearly didn't understand Silver was using his powers to block their weapons and they were confused why Fiona had weapons.

Narrowing options again he came to a single conclusion, the target was also a male hedgehog, unarmed and had similar speed and agility to Shadow. Only a few people like him.

His hopes got up at memories of his old friend, but how. Shadows story said he was killed, maybe Eggman kept him alive to gloat and he escaped.

Despite how they last met Tails felt good thinking it might be Sonic. He slid down the hill as the dust cloud finally started to disperse. The person in question appearing on the far side lying down in the ash, hurt.

Worrying for the person Silver was first to approach getting a clear view before everyone else "Hey it's a mobian, a hedgehog"

The other three approached Tails silently hoping for a miracle, if anyone could help it would be Sonic.

He was last to get close enough to see clearly but heard Fionas voice growl "You son of a bitch!"

 **An I'm sorry this took so long, I hate to make excuses and I'm sure you hate hearing them so, I'm just gonna be honest. Writers block, and more fun stuff around right now. Sorry to anyone.**

 **Anyway who is the mystery person? And why is Fiona pissed. I think I gave enough clues to make it possible to predict. Hope you guys like and are ok with the shortish chapter, but I really wanted this out before I suddenly lost it again. I forgot how much simply listening to must while I type helps me focus, make it hard to listen to tv or something which distracts me.**

 **Anyway thanks for reading.**

 **Live long and prosper**

 **Admiralkirk**


	11. Even

**A/N Hey what's up, another chapter. Not much to say but I kinda wanted to write more before I lost interest again so here we go.**

"Fiona you know this guy?" Silver looked puzzled as he flipped between the female and unconscious hedgehog.

"Of course I do, this jack ass left me for dead!" The fox was just barely able to hold back her anger and ripping him apart right there.

"Scourge!?" Tails exclaimed approaching.

"Why the hell are you back here?" Fiona snarled at him as if he'd answer in his unconscious state.

"What's it matter, he's hurt. We should help him?" Silver said noticing Scourges leg was bleeding.

"He's right, we can get answers when he wakes" Shadow crossed his arms.

"I refuse to carry his ass" the fox turned away.

Tails refused as well, he'd been his enemy for years and had a lot to do with how he'd turned out today. He wasn't doing him a favour.

Silver groaned his hands glowing and lifting Scourge "I'll take him back"

Tails almost refused to let him inside his base but his curiosity was too strong, he had to know why Scourge came back here.

"We should leave him here to die slow" Fiona growled voicing her opinion. Exacting revenge was more important to her.

Shadow walked to her with a face that would not take any back talk and growled "We are not killers"

Fiona stared back at him, she made no attempt to attack him but clearly wouldn't back down.

"Hey, I'm going back whether you like it or not" Silver said floating into the air further proving his point.

Fiona closed her eyes suppressing her rage and making tights fists "AHHH, fine!" she quickly pushed past Shadow and started climbing out of the crater.

Tails was next to follow deciding to silently suppress his anger at the situation as well.

Silver sighed and flew back towards the base hoping atleast Tails would pick up the pace and allow him inside.

To his surprise when he landed the elevator door opened up so he took it feeling saving a life was more important than Tails' rules.

When the door opened all the doors were closed and only one close to him was open and lit. It hadn't been opened by Tails before.

"Get him inside please" Rosemary said over the intercom.

"Ok" he nodded following her orders.

Inside was a table with some mechanical arms hanging over it from the ceiling. He made a quick look around and realized it was the medical room.

"Put him on the surgical bed" her voice sounded a little more urgent than her normal voice, understandably so.

Silver followed her orders as the arms overhead came to life lowering to begin working on Scourge's leg.

"Thank you Silver, he will most likely be fine"

He sighed in relief "Good, why was the elevator open?"

She lightly chuckled "I have remote access of most of the base incase Tails gets hurt. No time to type in codes and open doors if you are bleeding out" she explained.

"Oh makes sense…. So should I leave?"

"Do as you wish, if you are squeamish, then yes leave"

He wasn't too bad around gross stuff but he decided to let her work but stopped and said "Oh and… if he wakes up and nobody is around, don't let him leave. I don't know if you know who he is but that's Scourge. The other three seem to know him and don't like him"

"I know who he is Silver" her voice was stern and told him that Rosemary clearly knew about the hedgehog more than him as well.

Silver left to go do something to pass the time.

Outside…

Nobody had spoken since they started heading back but Fiona was still fuming, kicking up ash occasionally as she walked. Sometimes she could vaguely be heard mumbling curses at the hedgehog she once cared for so much.

Shadow stayed away from her, he had little experience working with angry woman. The few times he did he always felt like he was losing a battle he couldn't win. When Rouge was angry he never won, or when Amy and Blaze had been angry at him for doing his job instead of helping them. He eventually gave up and handed the chaos emerald over to them, then received an ear full from Rouge.

He didn't feel like going against an even more pissed off female.

It was surprisingly Tails who walked to her side "What was it like seeing him again?"

Fiona continued to stare forward, a thousand mile stare extending past the horizon, her eyes filled with nothing but rage.

"Anger, resentment, sadness and betrayal"

"You know how it feels then?"

"Don't talk to me Tails" her voice harsh.

"You felt it, knowing someone you thought you could trust and care about betrayed you and letting it eat away at you?"

"I said shut up" she growled "I didn't believe you at first. I really didn't believe you felt that bad about what he did, but now I see. It's satisfying to know that what goes around comes around"

"SHUT UP!" she yelled turning to back hand him.

He saw it coming and caught it, twisting it making her yelp and drop to a knee immobilizing her.

His head inched towards hers. He could see into her soul, she truly was damaged like him, filled with regret, anger and sadness. Everything he had felt long ago. He knew what he wanted to do and she knew it too.

"Guess you can't count on anyone" he whispered.

She flinched expecting to be back handed but instead felt the pressure disappear from her wrist and looked to see Tails had continued walking back home. She was confused, why didn't he finish it, humiliate her as she did to him? She could see it, he wanted to do it. His eyes didn't lie.

Somehow him not doing it felt worse. Maybe she felt like she deserved it. As she rubbed her wrist and prepared to get up she heard him say "Now we're even"

It sure didn't feel that way.

Shadow had silently watched and offered Fiona a hand, only for her to swat it away. She didn't feel like she deserved his pity. Her rage was gone and replaced by self pity, she wanted this day to just end.

On the other hand Tails finally felt like he got what he wanted, he thought it was Fionas death, but now he knew that he had wanted her to understand his pain. He knew she felt it so didn't gloat, nor plan to gloat in the future. As far as he was concerned he got her back and felt content.

Scourge, he was a whole-nother problem he now he to worry about.

In half an hour they were back and inside. Tails had guessed Rosemary let Silver in and was working on Scourge. He got an update on his health and learned he was fine and resting. Fiona avoided the room entirely getting back to a book she had been reading to hopefully distract her.

Shadow checked in with Silver to see if he was ok, he'd never actually seen that much blood. The two working together back at their old home protected people near perfectly. That was mostly Shadows work though.

"Why does everyone not like this Scourge guy?" he asked. He was never around for those times so the hedgehog was entirely foreign to him.

"He's Sonics polar opposite"

"I thought that was you?"

"Don't ever compare me to him again, no Scourge is from Moebius. Our universes opposite universe. Everyone there is opposite, so good people are bad and bad people are good"

"But wouldn't that mean his name would be Sonics name as well, or close to it?"

Shadow sighed "From what I know Scourge tried to be Sonic, I think he believed he could be better than Sonic, who knows. During that time he and Fiona dated. That's how this whole Tails and Fiona thing started. When Sonic came back he betrayed everyone. Somehow being forcibly being taken out of his super form from a non-chaos emerald power up caused him to reverse his colours. Unlike Sonic who is blue with green eyes he turned green and now has blue eyes. Not to mention he scarred on his chest. From that day on he went by Scourge choosing to not try and be better than Sonic but be his own person"

"Damn… so Fiona left with him after he was defeated?" Silver asked scratching his head confused.

Shadow shook his head "No, she started dating the real Sonic from what I heard. It just wasn't the same, perhaps Fiona knew Scourge wasn't Sonic at the time but when he was gone it never flared between her and the real Sonic. Finally one day Tails got curious and found her sneaking off. She went to meet with Scourge, and well… I don't know exactly what happened but Fiona left and Tails was destroyed. And that's how it all started"

"And after leaving all her friends behind he abandons her to die…. No wonder she was so pissed" he frowned feeling sad for both foxes.

"Just stay out of their thing and I'm sure you'll be fine" Shadow advised "But… it might be over, mostly"

"What makes you say that, you think their mutual hate of Scourge will keep them off eachother?"

"No, on the walk back I think Tails got what he wanted, that's all I'll say about it" their business and Silver really didn't need to know that stuff.

The young hedgehog decided to take his advice and stay out of it "Ok, so how's Scourge anyway?"

"He's fine, don't talk to him until I or Tails say so. Got it?"

"Ya, I got it" he nodded.

"Good" Shadow gave him a small smile and left him to pass the time for himself.

Tails took awhile to quickly check up on anything that may have happened while they were gone, but there was nothing. So he sat in the control room chair thinking. He needed to talk. He needed a second opinion on what to do with Scourge and since only one other person here had previous experience with him, he'd have to cut through the barrier he made earlier on the way back.

So he got up and walked to the bedrooms and found Fiona reading in her bed. She was oblivious to him watching her. She had her knee propped up in her laying position to hold up her book and had her head propped up with her pillow.

Her tail hung over the side swiftly swinging left and right very subtly showing she was still trying to work off her anger.

He quit staring feeling himself zoning out and cleared his throat.

The female fox lightly snorted also coming out of a zoned out state and looked over quickly looking submissive. She wasn't afraid, no it was nothing else, but she clearly couldn't keep eye contact with him.

"Yes?" she hesitantly asked.

Tails flicked his head back signifying he wanted her to follow "Need to talk"

Her ears flicked back once again showing hesitance getting up.

"Talk about what?" she gulped.

"Just come on, I don't want the other two being apart of this"

That only made her more anxious following him out. He led her to a door he didn't allow anyone in, but Fiona had peaked in before and vaguely figured out it was probably his workshop.

"You sure you want me in here?"

He turned "Listen, you either follow me in or get the hell out of my base" he knew she'd follow so the threat was kinda empty.

He opened the door and walked in hearing her footsteps follow. The door closed behind her as he walked to a work bench in the middle of the room. Facing the desk he leaned forward using his arms to keep him up and sighed.

"I don't know what to do with Scourge"

It clearly caught her off guard as she froze for a second before asking "Do you… want my opinion?"

He rolled his eyes "No I asked you in here just so I could tell you that, of course I want your opinion" he said sarcastically "You and I are the only two here who have personal experience with him… so I think you deserve to voice your opinion"

She paced over to the opposite side of the desk as he stood up straight and crossed his arms. She thought briefly and sighed "I want to hurt him so bad… but Shadow is right, we aren't bad guys…" she paused at the irony of what she was saying, she had been a bad guy "So as much as I want him dead… we can't" it was like letting go of a long held breath saying that.

"I agree, besides, he has a reason for being here again. I want to know why he came back to this place, and why he didn't use his warp ring when he got in trouble" Tails said rubbing his chin.

It only occurred to Fiona that he had a warp ring and could have escaped but didn't, her anger made her forget that. Suddenly she was curious as well.

"How did I forget that?" she whispered.

"You forget alot of things when you are angry" Tails whispered back.

Fiona looked up at him hearing him say that then looked back down "Tails…"

His eyes shifted to her, something her voice sounded genuine.

"I fucked up…. I'm so sorry Tails… after everything… I truly thought what I was doing was right… I never wanted to hurt you. I just wanted to leave that day… but then you found Scourge and I. I know I looked composed… but I panicked… I wanted to leave quietly. All you were doing was looking out for me and how did I repay you… by destroying your happy life"

Tails just watched her, eyes never deviating from her listening to her apologize again. This time he knew she meant it.

"Now I know how you feel… There's no way I can ever repay you, I thought… you were angry but I clearly hurt you more than I could ever imagine. I'm sorry Tails… I'm so sorry" she cried leaning against the desk like he had before tears dripping onto the wood.

Tails simply stood there listening to her sobs and walked around the desk gently grabbing her arm.

She flinched slightly but realized he wasn't trying to hurt her and sniffed trying to gain her composure back.

"I know you don't believe me but we're even now. You felt what I felt, that's all I need" he wanted to say he could move on now, but he'd been like this too long, it was a promise he probably couldn't make.

Fiona hiccupped as she struggled to breath feeling Tails pull her into a soft hug, if only briefly. Enough to show he didn't hate her guts anymore. To show that maybe they could be a team again.

As quickly as he got soft and showed a little compassion he backed off to the other side of the desk "So we agree that we'll listen to Scourges story, then decide what to do with him?"

She sniffed and nodded "Either we keep him here locked up or make him leave?"

"What I was thinking too" they both agreed so he walked to the door. Fiona almost followed but Tails turned "Stay here until you're better"

He quickly turned and left leaving her alone in the large workshop, she smiled slightly before coughing some flem in her throat. He really was trying to be nice again.

Her eye wondered around the room. Years of his work all over the place, either finished, partially finished or blueprints. Tons of it, everywhere. On the desk they'd been talking over there were two blueprints. One detailing future improvements of the base with a note attached "Just need supplies"

Infact a lot of them had notes like that. He clearly had a lot of ideas before or after Eggmans attack that he never got to or thought up afterwards and simply had no materials to produce them.

The other blueprint detailed a robot, similar in design of Eggmans, except not as fat.

"Man we could use our own robot army" she mumbled.

Soon she was walking around the room looking at what was a partially completed rifle-like weapon on top of its corresponding blueprint. The name on it said "Anti gravity device" followed by a note "Still missing specific rare elements"

Then there was an orb that turned out to a prototype grenade that when it exploded it would create a field of such intense heat it could melt and disintegrate metal. Once again he was missing elements to make the reaction happen. As a side note it mentioned it would be great for getting through walls as a wall charge of sorts.

More and more blue prints with either partially constructed devices or nothing at all. It continued like this until she looked apon his journal. A medium sized brown book, worn and torn over the years.

"Wait a minute…" she paused "This is the exact same book he had back in his lab with the freedom fighters" the memories made her smile, she'd bug him and tease him occasionally. She sighed with a smile on her face.

Her hands slid over the book picking it up gently not wanting to damage the old thing. The feeling of nostalgia made her hand open it and look inside. Even more memories flooded in seeing crude pictures of things Tails made in the past. Slowly going through the book the drawings became less crude overtime, his drawing skills being refined.

Occasionally a note would be added to the page like a reminder of a new idea added to the invention or a warning that it could be dangerous, after awhile most had a caution sign as they got more and more ambitious.

Finally she reached unknown inventions, clearly made recently before or after she left. The drawings at first seemed lazy, not detailed or just plain unfinished. Then they got aggressive, the lines being less precise and more angry. Some pictures were scratched out aggressively either scrapping an idea he found stupid or felt needed to be restarted.

After a few more pages a page was filled with dark bold letters that spelt "I HATE HER!"

She frowned looking away, but her guilt made her need to see further and see how he progressed.

Several pages all repeated that he hated her always extremely aggressive and big letters.

About a quarter of the book was filled with this until it finally stopped on a page simply of a mechanical mobian, on closer inspection it was Fiona. The outline made it hard but she figured it out. Instead of her normal self it was transparent and showed mechanical parts.

"Oh my god… he wanted to make a robot of me" to replace her, to make a Fiona that he wanted her to be, no, to make a Fiona she could have been.

She wondered why he never actually did it… or maybe he did then scrapped it. Whatever the reason there was one page left so she hesistantly turned.

On the final page were calmly written words that read.

"I hate her…. Because I hate myself… because I still love her"

 **So there the mystery Mobian was Scourge and it seems Tails is coming around, but then we got a little creepy a the end only to end with that little quote.**

 **Guys I need to ask, do you think this all going right… you feel like what's happening is natural or how they are acting makes sense. Cause I'm a little worried I'm getting slightly random. Like I don't know… maybe I'm worrying too much cause I'm not doing this as often but yes, I feel like I'm doing something wrong. If you guys think you have an answer I'll read it and really consider it. But if you like than I'm just a worry wort.**

 **Anyway Have a good day and remember to live long and prosper**

 **Admiralkirk**


	12. At any cost

**A/N So thanks for the reviews guys, it really means a lot, I'm glad what I'm doing feel right. Like the personalities are matching with their actions or something. Anyway I'm also glad to announce that this is infact a FionaxTails. Someone asked awhile back and I kinda gave a 'neither confirm nor deny" answer. If anyone else wondering there's your answer. I'll be updating the story description to involve romance.**

 **So thanks for reading let's continue on with this freak show.**

"Uggg… what happened… dammit my leg" Scourge woke and jerked his leg then winced in pain. He found himself laying on his back in a small room. He was on a bed, comfy too. Looking around the small room was lit by two bulbs in the ceiling. Next to the bed was a desk with a lamp on it, a few books and blank papers. There were two doors, one leading to a bathroom, the other he couldn't see since it was closed.

The green hedgehog went into a sitting position careful to watch his leg. Looking it over he found it was patched up and wrapped in gauze. He realized quickly that Eggman hadn't captured him, it was too nice. The nice room and nicely patched up leg. No it was someone else.

"Who would want to help me?" he asked himself.

He guessed he'd just have to wait and see and checked himself over again. Besides his leg he was ok, except for a bruise or two. His flame jacket had been ripped open and patched back together several times from fights he had before. The flames on the side had dulled but still clearly visible. He looked over his red glasses, he'd made specially sure to keep these in good shape, despite his best efforts the plastic had small scratches and the left lens had been cracked. It was off to the side so it didn't impede his vision. Finally his shoes had dulled and were pretty much permanently coated in a layer of ash.

He quickly cleaned off some dust that got on his glasses and sighed.

"Better come and see me soon" he growled.

Elsewhere…

After his talk with Fiona Tails went back to checking over the base, the daily maintenance and checks. He felt a little better after that talk with her. Thinking about her didn't bring up as many bad emotions as before, but for now he would definitely need time to get used to treating her as a teammate. Same with the other two.

Most of the checks were made by Rosemary but Tails watched everything on the screen buzz by having seen it hundreds of times before. Nothing was off like usual.

"Sometimes I wish something would break just to break up the pattern" he said to himself.

"As long as it's minor and wouldn't do any harm" her motherly voice said.

"I guess" he shrugged "I built this place a little too good didn't I?" he smiled lightly leaning his arm against the arm of the chair.

"Yes you did"

Tails stayed silent yet more checks flying by the screen.

"So what are you gonna do with Scourge?" she asked him suddenly.

"You didn't hear?" she heard everything in here unless he specifically wanted her not to.

"No"

He felt a bit relieved, a part of him didn't want her knowing what else he spoke to Fiona about "We decided to wait till he wakes then listen to his story. We'll either keep him here or kick him out"

"I hope it goes well, because he's been awake for about ten minutes now"

"What?" he sighed "Why'd you wait to tell me?" a small amount of annoyance in his voice.

"I wanted him to wake up a little"

She had a point there. So he got up and went to get Shadow and Fiona.

He knew where the two males were and walking in said "Hey he's awake, you two want to listen to his story?"

"I don't see why not" Shadow shrugged following him out, Silver hot on his heels.

Fiona was just leaving the workshop finally presentable again.

"He's awake, you want to see him or leave it to us?" Tails knew she might not want to see him, or wouldn't be able to restrain herself.

"Ya… I'll come" her hesitance was interpreted by Tails as a sign she was unsure but in reality she was trying to get over what she learned inside.

The four mobians came to the door and Tails said "Ok, remember, we want the story. That's it"

Right before he opened the door Fiona said "I'll wait outside, don't want him trying to distract us by using our past relationship or something" she stepped aside waiting beside the door wanting to still listen in.

Opening the door he found Scourge laying on the bed staring at the ceiling.

"About time you came to see me" he was clearly annoyed as he sat up. He quickly stared at Tails. For a short moment obviously trying to figure out who the familiar fox was. It was on the tip of his tongue until he saw the two tails and smirked "How ya doing pipsqueak?" a mocking smirk plastered on his face.

Tails ignored him as Shadow walked in with Silver.

"And you must be Shadow, atleast you look like it" he knew of the dark hedgehog by name and description only.

He stopped on Silver though "You, I don't know" pointing at him with a bored uninterested expression

"Makes two of us" Silver said actually coming off confident and intimidating.

"Listen here pothead, I'm Scou-"

"Shut up, listen here. We may have saved you but we want to know why you are here, and why you didn't use that warp ring of yours to escape" Shadow growled, he was the most intimidating of the three so he took the initiative.

"Back off freak, I'm not talking"

"You aren't, eh?" Shadow simply smirked lunging forward squeezing his bad leg.

"AHHH, fuck you"

"Tell me, NOW!" squeezing again harder this time.

"You son of a bitch… FINE!"

The pressure quickly went away as Shadow stood back up and waited for his story.

Scourge held his leg for a minute wincing in pain before finally saying "I pissed off a few people back on Moebius… they caught me and used my warp ring to send me here. They knew what happened to Mobius and thought it would be fun to send me here to die"

"That's why you don't have the warp ring?" Tails asked, his deeper and harsher voice surprising Scourge a little.

"Of course they took it, what would be the point of sending me here with it?"

"Watch your tongue" Shadow threatened his fist clenching to show he would grab his leg again.

"How long have you been here?" the fox asked.

"Been travelling the waste for three months. Any town I come across is protected by Eggmans bots and attack me, guess he remembers me. So I stayed away. He's been hunting me down for a week or two sending specially made bots to fight me" Scourge explained rolling his eyes at the mention of being attacked like it were nothing new.

"So that's why they all got confused by everyones personal skills, they were programmed to fight him not any of us" Tails concluded, he had a feeling but now it was confirmed.

"So is this the Freedom fighters new hideout, it's definitely cleaner than the last" Scourge asked peaking through the door maybe to catch a glimpse of anyone "I would have thought Sonic would want to speak with me"

"Don't worry about any of that, just know we'll be deciding what to do with you" Tails crossed his arms.

"Ya well don't rush, my leg could use some more R&R" he clearly didn't like having his fate in someone else's hands, but it was better than being dead by Eggmans fat bots.

"We'll be back" Tails said turning to leave followed by the two hedgehogs.

"Whatever" Scourge mumbled as the door closed.

The three males looked to Fiona. Tails asked "So think he's lying?" she did have the most experience with him so her opinion meant the most.

"He's probably not lying. I mean he did get himself thrown into jail and be over powered by the gangs inside. When I found him and broke him out he was a husk of his normal self, groveling to people. He was pathetic. Even when we came to save him he begged us not to cause any trouble. So I wouldn't put it past him to piss some people off and get over powered and thrown back here" Fiona explained, she was a little angry from hearing his voice.

"Ok, so if he is telling the truth what should we do with him?" Silver asked, he had deduced that was what they wanted to do next.

After a short silence Tails shrugged "I say we kick his ass out as soon as he can walk"

"I second that" the other fox added.

Both looked to Shadow who looked deep in thought "… He should stay"

"WHAT!?"

"First, he's hurt, he deserves to heal up"

"That's what I said" Tails said annoyed.

"But" Shadow stopped him "We are low on numbers, he is being hunted, this is the one place that hasn't tried to kill him"

"NO! No way, he is not staying here. I will not let him stab us in the back or ditch us when we need it" Fiona growled, furious that Shadow would suggest such a thing.

"This isn't about what you, or anyone wants Fiona, this about what the world needs. If we need to take on a bad guy to get this done then we do it. We aren't kids, this schoolyard shit stays out of our mission. We are taking down Eggman or we die trying, there is no giving up ad we take every opportunity and advantage we can get" Shadow wasn't gonna take no for an answer.

His eyes bore into her his fury paralyzing her in place "I've been waiting two years to finally get revenge for what he did to all of my friends"

Silver was even surprised hearing his motive. He thought Shadow had wanted to stop Eggman because that was the right thing to do. He wanted revenge, plain and simply.

"So that's what you want, revenge?" Tails said, he wasn't as surprised.

"All of them died that day and the two I saved were slaughtered days later. I couldn't even protect Amy. Knuckles could handle himself if need be but Amy wasn't as strong as us. And now they are all gone, I'm going to make him suffer as long as I can and I will get vengeance for what he's done" he growled. His story made sense now, and he clearly was going to be the last person to give up. His mission had been postponed for two years and now he finally had a way to do it.

All three mobians watched as he breathed heavily, his fury slowly subsiding. They all believed he was in this to win this or die trying but now they all felt a little uneasy. He sounded like he wanted to complete this at all costs, even if it meant sacrifices needed to be made.

"We are keeping him here, and if we have to strap an explosive collar to his neck we are using him. Now he's been hunted for weeks, and from what I know of him he'll want revenge for this. He also knows this is the only safe place anywhere close to here. Finally without the warp ring this is his home now, if this place stays the way it is he will die. He has no other choice but to help us. Got it?" his reasoning was sound.

"You forget, he is extremely prideful. He may say no just from his ego" Fiona crossed her arms explaining that in a flat voice, she hated it but Shadow wouldn't let her do anything but allow Scourge to stay.

"He will say yes, I will explain it plain and clear"

Tails hummed in thought moving on from the brutal display their dark friend had demonstrated "That leaves one last problem, you" he pointed to Fiona.

"Her, what's wrong with her now?" Silver asked confused why he was saying Fiona suddenly had a problem.

Despite his confusion the other two knew what Tails meant Fiona nodding "How will he react to me?"

"Doesn't matter" Shadow shrugged not caring for childish ex problems.

"There's really only one option, I need to introduce myself" she dreadfully sighed.

"I'm staying out of this" Silver threw his hands up walking away.

"I'll go in alone, he has a broken leg, he won't be able to do anything" Fiona said.

"You sure?" Tails surprisingly asked.

"Ya, should I tell him it's just us in here?" she heard Tails refuse to answer how many people were here or any specific names.

"He'll find out soon" Tails said "Keep him guessing for now"

She nodded and with that all over and the disturbing confession of Shadow out in the open she walked to the door. Before turning the knob she took a deep breath "Don't kill him" she whispered to herself.

She opened the door and heard Scourges arrogant voice say "So figured out what you're gonna do with me or…" his mouth dropped seeing who it was.

Fiona closed the door crossing her arms standing as far away from him as possible. She kept a straight face trying to give away none of her emotions.

"Fiona… you're… you"

"Survived? No thanks to you" she spat.

"I'm sorry I didn't see a way-"

"Shut up, don't give me that. I don't care what the excuse is. You left me behind and that's it. You are dirt to me now, you're lucky I don't kill you now" She knew what Shadow said was right, she couldn't let the past effect her, but she was alone with him, she'd take this chance than leave it behind, if she could.

He looked down surprisingly showing sadness and regret but asked "So then why are you here?"

"To tell you that you aren't leaving and you aren't gonna die"

"What the hell does that mean?" he glared up at her, he wanted to stand and match her height, just being lower than her just added to how much more powerful she was right now in this situation.

"It means you either help us or you stay in here"

"I'm not helping you freedom fighters. I thought you of all people would know that" he growled.

"Alright then, rot in this cell, or better yet I could send in Shadow again and make you understand your situation, and trust me, he won't take no for an answer" she smirked seeing the slightest hint of fear in his eyes.

He looked away then back, he very quickly ran through his options, rot in this cell and probably take a few rounds of 'persuasion' from Shadow the hedgehog, or accept.

"What keeps me from just running off the second I get a chance?" he smirked thinking they hadn't thought ahead.

"Then you continue to wonder the waste alone with nowhere to go and no friends, oh and don't forget be hunted until you are dead" she smirked again calling his bluff.

He clenched his fists now in a corner, but she spoke again "And I know how much you hate being alone. You are like Sonic, he couldn't live without friends"

"No! I'm not Sonic, I'm not him anymore, I'm Scourge!"

Fiona laughed tauntingly "You really believe that? Some things can't be avoided. You always had people near you. You tried to infiltrate the freedom fighters and when that failed you tried to kill Sonic so you could get them back. Then you made every effort to keep me with you. I'm not gonna say you manipulated me but you tried hard to make me come with you. Then you made your own team. Sadly they hated you and double crossed you and you went to jail. The first time you ever had no friends and you became a shell of your former self" her taunts making him growl in rage.

"Don't compare me to him!"

"Didn't deny it" she laughed again only making him growl again "Listen, calm down and decide what you want to do. Personally I hope you refuse and take the hard way with Shadow but I also know you are a smart guy. You'll figure it out" she finished with a taunting wink and left. She felt satisfied cutting into him like that.

Outside Shadow and Tails waited, the sound proof walls made the conversation private.

"So?" the younger fox asked.

"I'm sure he'll make the right choice soon" she smirked.

Both males looked to eachother but Fiona left with a wide grin on her face. She wasn't satisfied with taunting Scourge but for now she was happy with it.

Tails shrugged not really caring what she said to him, he was sure she wasn't gonna double cross them. He was now worried about Shadow, what was he willing to do to get Eggman? Only time would tell. For now they'd have to wait for Scourge to make up his mind and for any new opportunities, but he feared that if they wanted to strike at Eggman they'd have to travel and find trouble themselves.

He went back to completing the maintenance checks like before.

Fiona sat in thought on her bed, Silver was there floating rocks around himself but didn't ask what happened, Shadows warnings before hand made him not ask.

She was thinking about Shadows words too, considering what Scourge did she was now paranoid of what he might do. From now on she was going to watch him. She wanted to end Eggman as well but she wasn't willing to drop to Scourges level and abandon or stab his teammates in the back.

Besides that she had the other problem of what she learned in the workshop. Tails' last entry in his notebook. He hated himself, because despite everything she did to him he still loved her, atleast at the time of the entry. That worried her more, did he still feel that way now or did his feelings ferment to a point that he forgot her loved her and only hate reigned? She didn't have the guts to ask him.

She sighed dismissing everything from her mind and went back to her book, waiting for the next curveball life would throw her way.

 **Ah another chapter done, fun times. So more stuff revealed this chapter, mostly about Shadow and a little of Scourge. I just want to point out that Scourge needing friends was something I made up, I couldn't quite remember if he'd been a lone wolf at any time, but considering he is Sonics opposite and Sonic never goes anywhere without atleast one friend I assumed Scourge would be somewhat the same.**

 **As for Shadow, his 'do anything at any cost' personality is showing, but the question is, will he betray them all to get revenge, even Silver? Time will tell folks.**

 **Getting these out fast again, just like old times, nice. I also apologize if at some point it randomly repeats a line directly below that line. My Microsoft words fucks up like that sometimes and I have no idea how to fix it. It may not show up but I wanted to point that out.**

 **Live long and prosper**

 **Admiralkirk**


	13. One step at a time

**A/N So it's the next chapter, personally I'm not sure what everyone thinks of Scourge. I want to make this almost like the suicide squad(I started making this before I realized this movie was being made) they are all either former good guys, anti heroes or flat bad guys…. Except Silver. I felt like the team needed someone who wasn't going to be tied down by emotional problems or being a dark character. He's like a small light in the dark… or they all are and he's just a little brighter… if that makes sense.**

 **Anyway I have a plan for Silver, and I was finally able to figure out a way to make it happen thanks to a lot of time to think at work. It will be a bit until we see where that goes but for now he's learning and growing.**

 **Anyway thanks for continuing to read on and I hope yu enjoy this one.**

It was the day after Scourge had been captured and so far he'd been a good prisoner. Nobody annoyed him and he was given things he needed to pass the time. Though he preferred to be alone. Besides that he hadn't really made a decision to join yet.

Tails realized that Eggman would probably notice that his specialized robots were destroyed and would be hunting for Scourge. He was smart enough to also realize Scourge couldn't escape by himself.

The fox walked out of the workshop to go scout around the wasteland for any signs of Eggmans scouts.

"Hunny, don't you think it would be wise to take someone with you?" his mother said realizing what he was doing.

"Never bugged you before" Tails was just starting to put on his armor.

"You weren't alone all those times before, you have your friends now"

He strapped on one of his gauntlets "First, they aren't my friends, they are my teammates. Second I can handle myself my suit has cloaking tech remember?"

"Yes, but you even said it would help to work together so you can get used to eachother in the field"

Tails sighed slouching a bit. She wasn't gonna give up so he got up "I'll find someone"

Partially armored he walked through the base, he wanted to ask Shadow since he'd most likely be quiet and just want the job done like himself, but he peaked in the bedrooms and found both Silver and Shadow napping.

The only one awake was Fiona who was quietly sitting in bed reading.

He definitely wasn't gonna take Scourge, he neither trusted him nor could depend on him anyway because of his leg. With only one option and his mom not letting him go alone he quickly called to her "Hey"

She snapped from the pages "Huh?" she looked to the other two thinking they had spoke but Tails knocked on the wall to catch her attention.

"Oh sorry, what's up Tails?" she'd calmed since yesterday and was more composed around the male fox now.

"I suspect Eggman will want to know why his bots specifically made to hunt Scourge failed, watch my back while I see if he's sent patrols"

"Don't you think you'd rather do that alone?" she asked knowing he'd be more effective alone due to his stealth armor.

"Mom won't let me leave without someone and since you're the only one up I guess it's you. Gear up quick" he clearly wasn't asking.

Fiona shrugged and decided to just get it over with. She bookmarked her page then got up to go get her gear.

Donning her utility belt, as Tails called it, several EMP grenades, a communicator, a small knife on the side of her boot, her pistols and several other things she was ready.

Alright Tails, lead the way" she said knowing he liked it that way.

Going up the elevator was easier then last time. The past, mostly, behind them, things were easier now. But neither actually looked at the other or spoke. Both felt like that was how it was gonna stay. It was still clearly better than Tails wanting to rip her throat out.

The door opened and both walked outside to the empty desolate world. Since Fiona had been living in it for two years the feeling of dread and depression had become normal. Since going into Tails' underground facility it wasn't around. So when she came back outside she always felt terrible again.

Not thinking about it was near impossible, the emptiness of the waste was everywhere. The lack of birds, leaves in the wind or people, it made the world incredibly empty. Along with the feeling of emptiness, dread followed.

Looking off into the sky she found some familiarity, the clouds couldn't be taken away. It was the one thing that couldn't be changed.

She sighed making Tails' ear flick "Tails… even if we do succeed and defeat Eggman…. Things won't be how they used to be"

He was silent, he was trying to find an answer "Perhaps, but how do we continue to breath? If he burnt every plant then we'd all suffocate eventually with no plants making oxygen"

The females brain started churning "If that's correct than what's Eggmans plan, rule a planet that will eventually die?"

"I don't think so, he must have a facility or multiple facilities holding vegetation, it's the only way"

"And where there's trees…"

"There's seeds" Tails finished her sentence.

Both looked to one another, Fiona more or less smirking, it was small but for a split second there they synced.

"Think we can steal some?" she asked

"We'd need to find a facility first" Tails thought aloud.

"The only things around here are food storage, and the food is pretty much plastic. He's hiding it on purpose. If people were getting vegetables they'd know he has plants and would look for them" Fiona surmised having lived through rationing.

"So all we need is a location. Not many ways to do that. Unfortunately without a network to work with my sensors can't go too far. Maybe if we're lucky Eggmans bots might have it in their memory banks"

Fiona smirked "Easy, find some bots, cut em open and you work your magic"

"I've taken down a lot of robots over the years, none had any information, only elite units would know I bet.

"What about the ones we destroyed yesterday?" Fiona suggested thinking it would be easy.

"I'd have to either access them when they are active or recently destroyed. They have been down for hours, they're completely off"

"Dammit" she cursed.

Suddenly she realized something "Wait Shadow had plants growing under his town, where'd he get them?"

Tails shook his head "They got lucky, a guy who was a gardener was in the town and had the seeds before hand"

She cursed again.

Silence reigned again until Fiona spoke "We'll find them, I'm sure we will" her optimistic view wasn't too far fetch. If they kept stirring up trouble Eggman would send his best at them and they'd have tons of robots to exploit.

With another long silence Fiona remembered where she was and felt terrible again.

Luckily Tails spoke again "So what'd you see in my workshop?"

Barely containing a gasp she said "Nothing" her eyes darting in the opposite direction of him.

His eyes rolled and said "Don't lie, blueprints were everywhere"

She mentally sighed realizing he just meant in general, not specifically "Oh ya. I looked at a few, saw one for your own line of robots"

"The government wanted me to design a new generation of robotic units, I was nearly done when it all started. I finished it but with no resources I couldn't make even one and anything I can get my hands on I have to use for repairs of existing stuff" he sighed at the end.

"I'm gonna be honest the work is keeping me sane but at the same time it's holding me down. I have to keep the place in check constantly and all the time spent doing that reduces how far I can go. Early on I was able to camp out and keep the place going a few days on it's own reliably and travel out but now, any day anything can happen"

Fiona frowned, poor kid was working as hard as ever for all of them now "Anything I can do, if we're gonna do anything we need you in tip top shape and with more free time on your hands"

The male fox quietly thought it over and sighed "Maybe, I'll think about it" honestly the offer was welcome but at the same time he doubted she could handle the work.

"Just let me know kid… wait I need to stop calling you that" realizing he was way beyond being a kid. He was a man now.

He managed a small chuckle "Ya probably should"

Both smiled lightly feeling that old comradery for a moment.

Tails had a burning question to ask her, something only really she should have a part in, he couldn't trust Silver since he was close to the topic of discussion.

"What Shadow said, you get worried hearing that?"

"Of course I did, he had blood in his eyes, from what I heard Shadow could hide his emotions better than anyone. He hid those emotions almost too well. Imagine if we hadn't gotten him to say that down the road. He might just leave us all to finish the job" she shuddered at the thought.

Tails saw the shiver and said "If he does I doubt we'll be able to stop him. He's stronger than all of us, except maybe Silver and he follow him without question"

"He's a good kid, I think he was surprised by what Shadow said too"

"Still doesn't mean he'll disobey his decisions" the male said flatly.

Fiona sighed and hummed "Well let's just remember what he said and leave it at that, we're too few in number to lose him to mistrust. We're all packed inside your bunker, stress could get high fast"

"Good point" he noted that, for now he'd trust Shadow.

They continued walking quietly, both content with the silence and traveling up and down the dunes of ash.

The emptiness made Fiona ask "Do you think there's anyone else like us out there?"

"What, people with extraordinary abilities or powers that can actually fight?"

"Ya, Shadow explained all the freedom fighters went on that attack but what about others. I mean the Chaotix don't count in that. Or… I heard about a cat named Blaze. What about Rouge?" she remembered the few times she met the bat and how they competed "Or Omega?"

"If they are out there they are keeping low" Tails said simply "And Blaze probably is back in the Sol universe"

"Good point, why would she stay in this hell hole?"

Another couple minutes passed and Tails said "Well for now we've seen no sign of anything. I think we're safe for now"

"That's good, hope it stays that way"

He agreed though made no sound to say so and headed back home.

His female companion quickly caught up and asked "You said you'll be keeping an eye on Shadow incase he pulls any shenanigans, but… what about me. I'm sure you're waiting for me to break out Scourge"

"You'd think I would but I'm not" he smirked, her asking that only solidified his faith that she was done with the green hedgehog.

"Why do you believe that… I was a surprisingly good actor, I pretended nothing had changed while spending time with Scourge?"

"You also showed your emotions too easily sometimes, trust me, I can see the hate in your eyes. You think he's less than dirt right now; you also took every chance to get rid of him. No mercy or taking advantage of an extra member swayed you" he chuckled "I can tell you still hate the idea"

Despite that sounding a bit rude she smiled, he trusted her, something he probably hadn't done in a very long time. It felt like an achievement. Despite everything she was ironically his closest ally next to his mother.

"Thanks, it means a lot to know you trust me, but I guess trusting and liking someone are two different things?"

This time he was quiet for a moment before answering "Not gonna lie I do sometimes think of the past still and it angers me, but I'm trying. I promise you and I are on good terms and I'm trying to make it better with time"

"Really? You don't have to do that Tails, a lot happened, maybe I'm beyond forgiveness?" it sounded counter productive to her life but ever since he explained what happened to him after she left she felt a lot of guilt and self loathing.

Tails sighed but answered "A friend of mine taught me to give everyone a chance even if they clearly wouldn't change"

Both thought of the blue hedgehog.

"He wasn't too hurt with me leaving was he?" Fiona asked.

"His pride was a little bruised knowing he lost you to Scourge, especially since he lost before it started" the younger fox referencing how Fiona seemed to realize Scourge hadn't been Sonic on a subconscious level.

"But he got with Sally and things were fine. After that everyone hoped you'd snap out of it but also felt betrayed"

She frowned "Some obviously more than others"

"… yes"

I'd have done things differently had I known… but hindsight is useless"

He nodded in confirmation.

"So we're good?"

"For the last time we are even, why is that so hard to understand?" he snapped at her.

"You nearly caved in my skull when we met a few weeks ago, it's hard to forget that"

"I was angry" he didn't say any other excuse, he had simply gotten so angry he tried to brutally kill her, nothing much else to the story.

"Ya I know" she looked away for a moment "I don't blame ya" knowing his pain gave her perspective she didn't have before.

"You've gotten faster" he suddenly said.

"What?"

He chuckled at her confusion, she looked so dumb and amusing to him "You were always very agile, could have been a cheerleader in a second life. You've only gotten stronger and faster since then, had you not you'd be dead, several times over. Running from those robots must have taken everything you had" he remembered her own story and her close call with death.

"Everything and more, plus some blood and skin" she grabbed her tail and moved aside some fur seeing the scar where a bullet grazed her.

"We've all changed since then, physically and mentally it seems" Tails crossed his arms, the scar on his face jumping out at her. She'd almost forgotten it was there, desperately trying to imagine his old happy self.

She reached out and touched the top half of the scar only for him to slap her hand away "Does it hurt?" she asked, not because of his slap but more emotionally.

"I feel it sometimes, but even then it's usually a numb feeling"

"Any other scars?" she asked.

"Only mental ones"

She made a light smile happy to know he hadn't taken too much permanent physical damage, his mental scars though, she had a huge part there making her frown again.

With another silence Fiona decided to probe one last question before they got home "You said, in your story, that you felt Sonic was holding you back from your dreams. Do you still believe that?" she didn't, but she wanted to know if he had reconsidered since then.

"No I don't… I think he wanted me to stay because he and everyone else could see me drifting away"

She nodded and finished the walk back in silence.

With that both went to the elevator, both quickly scanned for anything that might be watching before going inside and traverse down again. Tails had his arms crossed staring at the door while Fiona had her hands on her hips. The silence didn't feel awkward like before. Both felt somewhat comfortable around the other.

The door opened and Tails said "Thanks for helping out, I'll consider your helping out around here"

"If ya do you won't regret it" she grinned.

He just kept walking and got back to his stuff.

Fiona smiled, the walk revealed a lot, they could work together without any major conflict in the background and they even were able to devise half a plan. Hopefully he'd talk to Silver and Shadow about their idea too.

She looked to the small cell door and thought about Scourge inside, probably napping. She shrugged not really caring walking by. Unfortunately for her Scourge saw her pass by and knocked on the small glass window.

She rolled her eyes but turned and pressed a button next to the door "What?"

"Since when are you and pipsqueak friends, you broke his little heart back in the day?" he asked his tone mocking.

"He's made it clear we aren't friends, we're teammates with a common goal"

"Never saw you as someone to fight for Mobius, you are the rightful queen back home" his tone changed to an offer like he'd give her that back.

It was wasted on her as she laughed "And prey tell, how are we getting back to Moebius?"

"We'd find a way, you and were a good team, remember?"

"Shut up Scourge your tricks won't work. I see how our relationship was now, a loyal teammate you could count on to save your ass but ditch when it was convenient" her teeth bared angrily.

"I didn't want to leave you-"

"Because if you could have found a way to bring me and you'd find another way to betray me, you didn't even try! You looked and gave up?"

"What did you want me to do? Wait and be cut down by all that lead? Run over to you and shredded by the bullets, there's was no way to get to you. I wasn't sticking around to see how long I could last?"

"And that's where you failed, someone like Sonic would have stayed and atleast tried!'

She growled back at her his toothy mouth curling downward into a scowl "Don't compare me to him, I'm not him! Besides he'd stay, just like when he left you behind in that prison!?"

"No, you don't use that on me anymore! He didn't know I was there, and it's as simple as that. Had he known I'd have been freed earlier" her defense of Sonic passionate.

"Had it been me we would have torn through every wall and eventually found you"

"Don't try Scourge, you aren't getting me back, you betrayed me and assumed I was dead. Looks like I had an angel on my shoulder and with every ounce of effort, skill and guts I had I escaped that ambush. And here I stand finally able to laugh at you, free and with purpose!" She almost threw her hands in the air to be dramatic.

"Your purpose will get you all killed, Eggman went crazy, he won't be so stupid anymore. The four of you could never defeat him"

"You could be apart of it" she suddenly offered softly and smiling.

He scoffed "Now it's my turn to say fuck off and stop trying. In here I'm safe, that's all I need for now" he walked away from the door and went back to a book he was reading, surprising to say the least that he was reading at all.

Fiona rolled her eyes letting go of the intercom button and scoffed "Idiot, he quite literally has nothing else better to do and he decides t stay in a tiny room. Even after knowing him so long she was surprised by his decision, perhaps he was getting a read on the team and would eventually decide to help and cause problems, or maybe he truly wanted to just be safe down here. Either way she wasn't gonna fall for his words anymore.

 **So another chapter down, man I've been completely destroyed by work, just generally being tired and stuff. Plus I'm helping a guy with a small project, not difficult or time consuming but it's a factor.**

 **Anyway I hope you liked the chapter, realy reflects where the dynamic of the two relationships Fiona has with Scourge and Tails is going. Anyway, thanks for reading and live long and prosper.**

 **Admiralkirk**


	14. Hidden secrets

**A/N Hey guys and thanks for reading along this, been a bit of a lul, I'm hoping to get out of it. I feel like we've done enough of this character building by talking. So I'm hoping to get things going.**

 **Anyway one other thing is I finally updated the story description to have Silver, Shadow, and the Tails and Fiona pairing. Not to mention I changed the angst to romance. I'd have added Scourge but you can only have four listed characters. This is how I wanted it the whole time, but I didn't feel like showing off everything. I mean how anti suspenseful would it have been if you went into this story reading TailsxFiona with Romance in the description and the first few chapters be Tails wanting to kill her. It'd kinda ruin it wouldn't it?**

 **So to anyone wondering that was my reasoning, but I think that's all in the past now(maybe) and it's clear that I'm making them friendly again. So I think the secrets out now.**

 **So with that over let's go.**

The four mobians didn't do much. Tails kept going out to see if Eggman had sent scouts but continued to find nothing. He mostly took Silver because the young hedgehog was getting restless and complaining that he was bored. Letting him outside made him be quiet.

The ivory hedgehog also tended to take a rock or two, he found some amusement in playing with them with his powers. Shadow started commenting that he was starting a collection.

Tails was trying to figure out a way he could find the plants Eggman must have had. He used to be connected to the satellite network but they'd gone down, or the fat man himself was using them now. The only answer he had was getting lucky and downloading the information from eggbots.

Fiona had continued to pester him about helping out around the place. The most he could think of was having her assist him in repairs. She knew it wasn't much but she did the more simple stuff to save him a few minutes.

Shadow stayed by himself. He spent his own time either silently being by himself or being with Silver.

Today Tails and Silver were walking around outside.

"Hey this looks cool" Silver picked up and admired a small rock, it was shiny smooth and after a quick look turned out to be more than just a rock. Looked like a small gem.

"Definetly keeping this" he smiled placing it in his pocket.

"Keep up" Tails growled.

"Sorry"

They climbed up a small incline, Tails was slightly in the lead. Silver almost made it to the top when Tails ducked down and forced the adsent minded hedgehog down as well "Look" he ordered peaking over the last piece of the incline.

Off about a hundred meters away were a group of eggbots. Some were average ones but a couple were larger and one massive bot with a cannon arm seemed to be the leader.

The average ones were simply the fat orange ones with small weapons, the larger ones were less fat and broad shouldered. Their weapon connected to their arms freeing up their opposite arm for a powerful fist.

The largest leader bot was massive, Tails could easily stand on the back of it's shoulders to get to it's head. The shoulders were lined with spikes and it's footsteps shook the ground. A quick inspection explained what the arm was capable of, a massive laser cannon. The other arm ended in an average sized hand for its size and the gauntlet had some spikes on it as well. It's heavy armor meant only the strongest of weapons or attacks that bypassed it would damage it.

"Guess you were, right, that's not a normal patrol" Silver quickly surmised peaking over as well.

Tails saw the opportunity to finally get on with the plan he and Fiona had made up and turned to Silver.

"Just how big of objects can you carry? Can you control their movements or hold them still?"

Silver looked to him oddly not sure why he'd ask such a question "I guess I could, it'd be hard to control and entire person, lifting is easy. Just focus on a spot and control that, but arms, legs, head and other parts. Not for long, especially if it's heavy"

"How long could you hold that large one? Roughly"

"Maybe a minute… I guess" He never tried so he wasn't sure at all.

"Good, we're attacking them. Save your energy, I'll need you to do to the big one" Tails prepared to activate his stealth suit and activate his weapon when Silver asked

"Wait why?" has wasn't even sure he and the fox, who had no powers like him, could take on such a large and powerful group.

"I need to download his memory" the foxes mask went over his face and stealth activated, now don't die"

Small dust kicked up as he ran forward and Silver cautiously followed trying to stay out of sight.

He got as close as he dared and looked around for any sign of Tails. He quickly ate one of his snacks to keep him ready during the fight and peaked over the rock he was behind.

All the bots were facing semi away from him so he quickly chose a target and waited for Tails to make his own move.

Personally Silver had no idea why Tails wanted to download the things memories but he always had a reason. He guessed the big one would have to stay functional.

"This is insane" he mumbled.

Moments after a small object appeared from thin air and flew in between the front of the group of robots consisting of the basic robots. Silver quickly hid behind his rock fully as an explosion went off followed by metal parts scattering everywhere. A few bounced off his rock making him sigh in relief from hiding, but now was time to fight.

Popping back out of the cover he quickly grabbed a bot and tossed it at another. He would have crushed it but he promised to conserve his energy.

Tails was in the air firing the same projectiles he used to destroy the wall around Silver and Shadows old home, the bombs stuck to the armor blowing them away in a matter of seconds.

He had to reload so the other bots fired at him. Most missed but the big one aimed it's arm cannon and powered up the laser beam that would instantly disintegrate the fox if it hit him.

Right before he fired though Silver used his powers to push it's arm slightly to the right making it miss it's shot. The bright blue beam cut through the air inches from Tails who dodged to the left before it could aim again. By then his stealth activated again.

With him gone the eggbots turned to Silver and trained their sights on him and opened fire.

"Ah!" he yelped pulling up a barrier to protect himself.

Luckily for him Tails was around and appeared right behind the furthest robot so none of the other saw him and touched it with one of his electrical fists. It instantly shut down and he moved to the next expending the second charge from his other glove on the next.

He then quickly ran to the next jumping on its back. His ripped off a panel on the back of the head as it flailed around trying to get him off. He punched into it destroying the inside and destroying it instantly.

The other robots notice him finally as he hopped off the falling robot. He quickly counted and found only four left including the large super bot.

Silver took the advantage and grabbed the last three and slammed them all together leaving only their final target left.

"Alright now!' Tails yelled pulling out a small device from his pocket.

Silver took a deep breath and glowed entirely green exerting all his power. The massive robot glowed green and froze in place almost about to fire on his fox friend.

The fox flew up and to the back of the head and yelled "How long do I got!?"

Silver was already breathing hard "I don't know"

Tails went to work as fast as he could connecting his device to the back of the head. He could already feel the robot shifting slightly and slowly over powering Silver.

"Come one. Come on" he mumbled using the devices screen and control pad to navigate through the hardrive.

He knew he didn't have time to download it all so he hoped looking through individual file names would work out.

The giant robot lurched shifting to grab Tails only to be stopped halfway. Silver clearly losing his focus for a second. Tails tried to ignore it focusing on his objective.

As he searched he pulled something from his pocket and planted it on the back of the head. If things got bad this would be his emergency button.

Finally he found some promising files under encrypted code and started downloading them all.

"Just a little longer Silver!" he hoped letting him know would keep him going but he was clearly about to give out.

The arm slowly got faster as it reached back to grab him, he couldn't break the connection yet or he wouldn't get another chance. Silver was too tired to try again and odds are the robot was already deleting it's memory just to stop him.

"Almost there" he mumbled to himself at about ninety percent through.

Silver yelled "Can't hold on!" he collapsed to his knees and the glows from both him and robot ended. The robots hand swung backwards intent on grabbing the fox.

He barely dodged to the left feeling the thumb graze his tail. With all the sudden movement he nearly fell over on the shoulder spikes but a quick spin his tails pushed him back.

"Ninety-five" he growled "So close"

He got gutsy and left the device attached to the robots head and ran over the to the front of the face seeing the hand fly by again.

He pulled out his grapple gun that he used before feeling the arm follow him.

Fox jumped off the chest turning quickly to fire the grappler at the robots hand. Using his tails to push him forward he flew through its legs. His momentum and weight of the hand allowed him to pull it threw causing it to nearly trip and staggering it. The line broke from the pressure and Tails flew back up behind it and noticed the device at one hundred percent.

He quickly ripped out the cord and took off again the hand grabbing where he was half a second later.

With a smirk he pulled out a small controller and with a smirk watched as the eggbot turned and aimed its laser cannon.

He made a short wave goodbye and hit the button.

The eggbot convulsed from a spike of electricity from the device he planted on the back of its head. The circuits inside snapping loudly from the current. When the current stopped it lurched forward and fell kicking up tons of ash and making a loud thud.

The young fox smirked at his own handy work and pocketed his equipment and flew down to check on Silver as the ash cloud dispersed.

Inside the cloud Silver was coughing from the ash, Tails was immune his mask filtering it out. He was still on his knees gasping for air from tiredness only to make the ash make him cough more.

Tails ran to him and quickly grabbed him and pulled him away so he wouldn't choke. Once clear of the cloud his mask lifted and let the ivory hedgehog sit and cough all the gunk out and catch his breath.

The fox waited for a moment helping him sit up before asking "You alright?"

He hacked a bit before barely saying "Ya… just tired" then coughed out some more.

"Just chill out for a second" he stood up and approached the wreck. He walked on the things back and tried to find a hatch to get inside. When he found none he pulled out a portable fusion cutter and his mask lowered to protect his eyes.

He cut a large hole and kicked it in waiting for the metal to cool before looking inside.

He quickly found what he wanted and dropped inside. His helmets light turned on so he could see and walked towards it through the exoskeleton and wires.

He reached it and was glad to see what he found was still intact and undamaged by his eletro trap.

"This core will help keep things running" he said happy to be getting another prize along with the information.

He proceeded to gently disconnect it from the body and pulled out the football sized object. He then proceeded to scrounge around for other stuff, like useful metals and wires. It was so big he'd have to visit again to get it all but he was satisfied with what he had for now.

He climbed out with all the new material and found Silver waiting, still a little tired looking but standing.

"Feeling better?"

"Ya, those were some good moves" Silver smiled impressed by the fox, but frowned "Sorry I couldn't hold on"

"You made it long enough that I could make a quick distraction, nobody died. It's fine" Tails said walking passed and shoving some of his looted materials into the hedgehogs arms.

Silver just smiled, it didn't sound like much but he wasn't angry and that meant he did good, atleast on Tails' standards.

He followed and asked "So what is all that?"

"Supplies, wire, metal and a power core. I'll need to visit again, there's tons of other stuff here I can use from the other bots too" he smiled, it was nice to finally have something else to do.

"That's great!... So what did you download?"

Tails broke from his trance thinking about all the supplies they scored and shook his head "Fiona and I thought of a plan to mess with Eggman again. If I'm lucky we got the info to know where to look"

Silver looked confused "But what exactly will be doing? And why?"

Tails briefly explained the plant theory to him and by the end Silver understood perfectly.

"So if we're lucky you downloaded locations?"

He nodded in confirmation "Sadly with that patrol down we're gonna see a lot more now"

"Finally on the offensive" Silver smiled smirking.

"If we're lucky" Tails reminded. Afterwards both stayed quiet.

They arrived back home and once inside Tails noticed Silver was greyer than normal and patted his back. Ash exploded off it and Tails said "Please go take a shower before you track that around here"

"Sure" he said quickly walking away.

Tails looked down at the settling ash and sighed remembering to clean it later.

As he walked to put his new supplies into the workshop Fiona intercepted him "Any reason why you have all that stuff and Silver is entirely showered in ash?"

"Found a patrol today, we were able to destroy. I salvaged all this stuff but more importantly I downloaded some of it's hardrive"

"You did! Awesome" she cheered, surprised how easy that was, atleast from her perspective.

"I don't know what's on it and Silver and I didn't have time to download it all so I got what I thought was the most classified stuff. So we'll have to see… and probably decrypt it" he warned giving her a realistic view at there chances instead.

She frowned and slouched "Oh… what's that" the power core catching her eye.

"Something to power stuff with, Eggmans cores are surprisingly very well made, every core able to last years, some even more advanced one renew their own energy while active. I'm sure that's what Omega has… or had if he's deactivated by now"

"What'cha gonna use it for?" she asked following him inside.

He placed it down on the very desk the had their talk a few days ago and thought "Well I could try to make a robot and power it with this…. But unfortunately I don't have the resources for that right now. I could use the other robots to get the materials. Or I could spread it out for other smaller stuff" the fox was mostly thinking aloud.

Fiona listened but her eyes drifted to the book she'd found Tails' great secret in. She wanted to talk about it, learn if that's how he felt now. He was still mumbling to himself about his plans. Her heart pounded opening her mouth to speak only to close it again then try again, and fail again.

"… God what should I use it for" he growled to himself finding it hard to choose. He had so many projects ready to go, a lot of which only required a power source since he had everything else.

All the while Fiona was having a mini freak out behind him.

Tails wouldn't ask her opinion of this, in the end he had to do what he felt would help the most, no offence to Fiona but he didn't feel she had the fore-sight for that. He sighed giving up and said "I'll figure it out" turning to face the fox.

He was a little surprised to see her looking worried and in deep thought, she didn't even notice that he had turned around.

"Fiona?... Fiona… FIONA" he yelled making her jump back.

"You alright?"

"Ya, I'm fine, I was also trying to think of what to do with that thing" she quickly made an excuse but Tails felt it was a lie. She was nervous so he pressed on not liking secrets.

"Don't lie to me Fiona, what's on your mind?" he crossed his arms sternly staring her down.

"Don't worry about it" the female tried to make a quick exit and avoid him but he caught her wrist making her inwardly curse.

"Fi" his tone surprisingly soft saying her nickname that she hadn't heard in years. It quickly went back to his deeper tone "Something is wrong, what is it?"

Hearing the old nickname suddenly scared her, why was unclear to her and she defensively growled ripping her hand away from his normally strong grip. She pushed him back not even thinking about how he could easily over power her if he wanted to. Even more surprising was the younger fox didn't even retaliate. He rubbed his chest.

"There's nothing wrong with me, I'm fine, you are the one with problems. You need to talk about them!"

"What are you talking about Fiona? We know I have problems. We talked about this, I'm trying to get better" he got aggressive in his confusion.

"Not all of it, you have something else going on in your mind" she softened a bit "You don't need to be angry at yourself"

"What?" he stood confused staring at her having utterly no idea what to say or do. He didn't even know what she meant but on a deep level felt like he did.

In his confusion Fiona took the opportunity to leave him and the tense situation and made a quick sigh of relief having got out.

While breathing heavily she tried to think about what happened, her reaction to the old nickname, and how he said it. It threw her off so much she ended up pushing him away and remind him how messed up he was.

It was pretty obvious that she felt terrible for saying that to him, but then nearly told him what really was on her mind. It scared her to no end that if he found out she snooped in his private stuff he might get angry and make her leave.

"Why did you have to look through that damn book, he was getting use to you. He was starting to be nice to you and now he probably thinks you have a problem with him" she mumbled to herself.

Her hands curled into fists and said "No it doesn't matter. He wanted you dead, like he really feels that way. Besides… he doesn't need me… I've only hurt him, whatever happens when this is all over I'll be gone"

With that she decided to protect Tails from herself. Like he said, she was a teammate not a friend, let alone anything more.

Wanting to let off some serious stress the fox went to the recreation room and proceeded to beat into a punching bag for half an hour.

In the workshop…

Tails still stood confused as hell and tried to figure out what she meant, what did she know, or think she knew? He pinched the bridge of his nose in deep thought, he could feel it on the tip of his tongue always losing it right before he could see it.

"Dammit" he cursed and took a long sigh.

He had something else to get to anyway and pulled out the device he'd used on Eggmans big robot and walked to his control room.

He sat down and transferred the memory into his computer. Like he suspected it was encrypted so he got Rosemary to start trying to decrypt it. He expected her to finish fairly quickly.

With all that done Tails leaned back in his chair sighing again thinking of Fionas words again.

"What happened?"

"Don't bug me mom" he hoped that would be enough but knew she wouldn't just stop seeing him in distress.

"Miles, she looked confused and terrified leaving the workshop, tell me what happened"

Tails groaned rolling his eyes "We got into a fight alright?"

"No, not alright. You didn't hurt her?"

"No! I mean we yelled at eachother"

"I'm sorry, what did you two say?"

The fox was utterly confused by it all and in desperation decided to tell her "I was thinking of how to use the core I brought back but gave up and turned to her and she looked nervous like something were on her mind" he started to fidget a little.

"Then she exploded and yelled at me telling me nothing was wrong with her and that it was I who had the problem. I mean…. I do have problems, but we talked about it and I promised her I was trying hard to get passed them. Then she told that I shouldn't hate myself" he frowned, it felt true but he couldn't remember why.

"That's all?" his mother asked.

"That's it? She yelled at me and told me not to hate myself, what did you expect, more? His sarcasm clearly defensive.

"What did you say?"

"I… I wanted to talk about what was wrong, she tried to avoid it so I grabbed her wrist and tried again and that's when she went off on me, after that I just stupidly questioned everything she said until she mentioned my hate for myself. I froze up after that" he mumbled the last part not liking that he had to admit that.

"You know she's vigorously attacking a punching bag right now"

"She is?" he asked leaning forward and opening up the camera feed. Like his mother had said she was releasing her frustration on the inanimate object. already a few holes in it.

"You were right, something is bothering her" his mother spoke again as he watched the camera feed.

The fox rubbed his chin in thought glad he wasn't going crazy "What is she hiding?" he thought to himself.

The camera feed went away to another screen and Rosemary said "I'm sorry but I finished decrypting the information"

"That was fast" he expected no less though, he put every bit of his knowledge into her as he could.

"I think you'll be happy to find that your hunch was right, we have one location" If she could smile she would.

"Excellent, call the others here" Tails smirked.

"It's time to go on the offensive"

 **Ok so this chapters ending almost turned out a bit different, but I decided again it. Also I'm a little swamped by work lately and it's really holding me back but I'm still here and working. Like I said I was gonna get the plot train movie and there we're about to get going.**

 **So for now I don't have much to say besides that so let me know what you think if you got the time and live long and prosper.**

 **Admiralkirk**


	15. Secrets revealed

**A/N Ok so we're to number 15, so far it's been fun. I'm getting to that point where I have a general plan for Fiona and Tails but I'm trying to think of some shit for Silver and Shadow to do and grow from. I was thinking of adding two characters, and I have a good excuse why they'll be there. Hopefully that will help a bit, the first I've had in mind from the start, the second I literally just discovered, but the particular character I feel will be fun to use and bring some more to Scourge as well(Hint it's not Rosy, that description might have sent you that way but it isn't)**

 **But I know where I want to go besides that. Guess we'll see where I take it.**

 **Also one other thing I keep forgetting to do is advertise(like a prick, haha) anyway, if you also enjoy some Shadamy check out my other sonic story or my one shot thing.**

 **I also had a lot of work lately so it's been crushing me for time, I also from Thursday to Sunday I will be participating in The Division closed beta so I won't be working on stories much during that time. Sorry for the inconvenience.**

All four Mobians were in the computer room, Tails still sat in his chair staring at his screen. Fiona stood to his right arms crossed and vaguely looking at the screen as well.

Shadow stood to Tails' left also cross armed and looked over the screen.

Silver leaned forward leaning on Tails' desk trying to get a closer look. He was still somewhat wet from his shower to remove the ash in his fur, luckily he hadn't dripped on the electronics or Tails might have kicked his ass.

"So what are we looking at?" Shadow was the first to ask.

Tails sat up more straight and explained "I'm sure Silver hasn't had time to explain but today we took down a heavy patrol today. We downloaded the memory of the leader robot and I had mom decrypt it"

Silver nodded confirming his story, but Shadow looked a little annoyed "And when did we discuss this plan?"

"Fiona and I thought of it and I needed Silvers help today since we found them on our own patrol. So here it is" he shrugged.

"Don't keep me out of the loop next time" Shadow growled.

"Ya don't worry about it, problem is we have a location, but the robot deleted enough of it's memory to get rid of it's purpose or even it's name. So I have no idea what it's for. Could be the plant facility we've been looking for or it could be something else" Tails explained the last of the situation.

"Do we have blue prints, or any information?" Shadow asked.

"Sadly no, just outside photos and coordinates, that's it"

"That's lame, I nearly choked on ash for just a location" Silver whined.

"Well it could be absolutely nothing" Tails growled, angry at his whining.

"I guess" he grumbled.

"So what are we going to do?" Fiona asked quietly looking at the screen and not Tails.

"Well, best I can say is we all go out and scout it out. It's really all we can do" he sighed not liking it "I'm worried about defenses, and hidden traps. We could walk into a trap and be killed before we even realized it"

"Your stealth suit?" Silver offered.

"It might work, but I've run into scanners that can still see me and considering how secret this must be I doubt there won't be any here" Tails explained.

"I'd hack into his systems remotely but his security has gotten far better. I'd take mum to do it for me but she can't leave. Not only does she run most of the systems in here but besides that I didn't build her to move. If I did I could destroy her. Her brain is designed to be compatible with this base and it alone" he sighed clearly not wanting to do that in the first place "She was too complex to be put on a handheld device, unlike Nicole who began as a simple Ai but grew inside the device, she evolved to continue to work in that thing"

"I think I remember Nicole, I wonder what happened to her, she can't really fight in the real world from what I know" Fiona thought aloud.

"Can't think about that right now, for now all we got is old fashion recon"

With that the four geared up but Silver stopped them.

"Wait, what about Scourge, we can't leave him in there" clearly he had more respect for the hedgehog as a person than the others since he had no experience against him.

"He'll be fine, we won't be gone long" Tails said uncaring.

"He's right, Scourge may be a bad guy but if something happens he'll slowly die in there" Shadow stepped forward agreeing with his silver friend.

"Mum can take care of him" Tails argued.

"No, we're not leaving him, that's just cruel" Silver argued back actually standing up for himself, probably because Shadow was by his side.

"Hate to say it but I'd rather have Scourge with us if we die than give him a chance to run" Fiona only partially sided with the two males.

Tails rolled his eyes "Fine, he wears cuffs and nobody lets their eyes off him"

Both hedgehogs nodded and went to get the Moebian.

Fiona waited awkwardly with Tails, the argument still fresh in their minds. Fiona had vowed to do her best to keep Tails simply a teammate, it should be easy, he barely tolerated her right?

Tails just wanted to know what she meant and why she was so defensive. Whatever it couldn't be that bad, right?

"Sorry for getting angry" she finally mumbled out, the males ear twitching a bit at the apology.

"What was going on?" he asked quickly.

"N-nothing…."

"Don't sound very convincing" he crossed his arms catching her quickly.

She rolled her eyes and turned to him "Listen, I know you don't like me, even if you say you're trying to get past it all finally, but we're teammates like you said, ok?"

His eyes bore into mine "That's not what this is about"

"I don't need to-" before she could finish the three hedgehogs came back. Scourge had his hands cuffed in front of him and growled "Great, gang raped by mostly dudes"

"What no!" Silver yelped disgusted.

Shadow smacked the back of his head making him cringe.

"Fine I'll shut up" he said rubbing his head awkwardly with his cuffed hands.

"You better" Shadow warned.

"Alright, we got all the extra baggage, let's go" Tails ordered still unhappy with bringing Scourge, but also peeved now that he still have no answer from Fiona.

Walking was crap like always. Not many people talked, even Scourge skipped the annoying comments. Their destination was far south, requiring a day or two of walking.

The first to talk was Scourge, but unlike what Fiona expected which was a rude comment, he legitimately asked "Where are we going?"

"Far south to an Eggman facility" Silver answered.

"Still trying to get yourselves killed?" he smirked.

Tails countered "Atleast we're doing something , unlike you"

"You are gonna get yourself killed, you got a safe place, live down there" Scourge couldn't understand why they fought for a lost cause.

"Because unlike you we're all thinking about the future, not today, and we're also not selfish pricks" Shadow growled.

"Ya well I know which ones survives to the next day, and I'm gonna be that guy" his eyes rolled not wanting to be lectured.

"How exactly are we scouting this place if it's a potential death trap?" Everyone had been wondering this but Silver finally asked.

"Not quite sure yet, when we get there I can analyze the situation better" Tails quickly explained.

"Hope so" he mumbled. Still walking the sun went down and Tails took off his backpack and unloaded some stuff they'd need for the night, specifically the lantern he and Fiona had shared before.

All five sat around the heat source.

Silver once again broke the silence "This thing is cool man, I slept like a baby on our way to the base after you got us"

"That's what it's built to do" he mumbled rolling his wyes only for Fiona to elbow him slightly for being rude. In response he just sent death glares at her.

Scourge just sat next to Shadow, it was Shadows idea to keep him in the base and bring him along so he was his jailer. He hadn't tried anything, probably knowing Shadow could easily catch up to him or blast him if he so wished.

"Made your descision yet?" The dark hedgehog asked the green.

"I don't think I have a choice now… so ok" he shrugged looking bored and hating his predicament.

"Welcome to the team!" Silver exclaimed but received three gazes that looked unamused so he just quieted down.

"For now you keep the cuffs, if we need you. Then we'll see" Tails explained.

"Whatever, just put my head down before yours when this all goes south" he smirked at the idea "Now excuse me, I have sleep to get to" lying back to sleep.

Silver followed suit quickly passing out.

Shadow was next and bid them goodnight until the morning.

Now it was just Fiona and Tails who both stared at the lamps glow.

Fionas voice broke the silence "Could this thing melt marshmallows?"

"Yes, but any accidental dripping can damage it"

"Damn now I want marshmallows" she cursed.

"Haven't had a marshmallow in so long" Tails actually smiled.

She smiled as quiet reigned again, except for the few snores starting to come from their companions. They weren't worry about Scourge running off, besides Shadow babysitting him, they were connected with another chain. So if he wanted to run he'd have to take Shadow with him, and his restraints would make it impossible to fight the aggressive hedgehog.

"Fiona, tell me what you were talking about in the workshop" Tails asked, it was the second time today "Nobody is coming to stop or conversation this time"

"Damn he's persistent" she rolled her eyes and clenched her fist "I'm just warning you to not worry about me. You can worry your little heart out about everyone here but me, Like you said we're teammates, not friends, and if I die then that means I wasn't good enough to be a teammate"

"That's not what this is about, you need to tell me, teammates can't work together hiding secrets"

"Do you really want to know?" Her eyes looking straight into his hoping that would sway him.

"Yes, Whatever it is, it can't exist or we can't work together. Like I said, our past is behind us and it's time to work together, you should offer the same courtesy" he was stern but he was also fair. He made it clear this would be the last time he'd ask before giving up and not trusting her again. She'd worked too hard to lose that now, only one choice.

"I…. After I apologized for what I did back then…. You left me in there to recover?" she ended up kinda asking if he remembered it.

"It's a hard thing to forget, what did you break something? If I didn't notice it by now it wasn't worth remembering" he hoped that was it.

"No…. I found a book" he looked confused "That journal you used to draw in for your new inventions, remember that?"

He sighed, looks like he knew what she was talking about "You looked inside didn't you?"

"Obviously" she frowned looking away.

"And you read to the end?"

"It was hard…. But yes" the female fox looked away clearly expecting him to lash out at her for reading his personal stuff.

"And how'd you feel reading the end?" he was surprisingly calm which surprised her, she was no side glancing to him, he was barely in her vision.

"Confused…. A lot of other things I couldn't figure out, but more importantly, do you still feel that way?" she questioned cautiously.

He was quiet but finally said, a simple answer that left many holes "No"

"No what?"

"Just no, that's all you need to know" he layed down to sleep afterwards.

That went much better than she expected, but now she had even more questions, specifically "No what?"

The question lingered in her head feeling even more confused than before, but she needed to sleep too and followed everyones lead, thinking of his answer all through the night.

In the morning the group of five continued on through the waste. Fiona felt a little better around Tails again, only a matter of time before she messed it up again somehow.

Scourge was more talkative today, he was clearly getting impatient with walking around in chains "These things are hurting my wrist, as good guys it's your duty to take 'em off and help a man in need" he didn't expect help but his mocking was getting to them..

"Fiona, considering all you've said to me it puzzles me why you're walking in front of me, cause from here I it feels like you're trying to entertain me during this walk" he smirked making the female roll her eyes and eventually walked to the side. She mumbled something about how much of a pig he was.

"Hey Silver, I think I know why you're happy all the time-"

"Please don't say it" the young hedgehog sighed shaking his head.

"You're a literal pot head" he laughed mockingly receiving a gut punch by Shadow knocking the wind from him. He received a thanks for everyone else.

By mid day the group was close to the coordinates, indicated by a small GPS type device on Tails' belt beeping.

Off in the distance, in the middle of nowhere a red structure stood. It was actually kinda small. The photos they got from the robots memory made it look bigger.

"Strange" Shadow mumbled realizing the same thing as Tails.

Further inspection showed no defenses, atleast on a visual level.

"I don't like it" Shadow once again spoke "Even if it's in an elusive area you always needs defenses"

Fiona smirked "I have an idea, why don't we make Scourge walk ahead and trip anything that might hurt us"

"You're such a bitch" he growled, her response was a roll of the eyes.

"No, give me a second" Tails visor dropped down and he activated several sensors scanning the area.

When he was done his mask flipped back up "There is an energy field out there, what it's doing I can't tell. It's currently in a low power mode. For some reason I believe it will only activate if we get closer… and yes, it's all around the base" he tapped his nose trying to think.

"Ok, let try my stealth suit first, if not we might have to just force our way inside" his mask flipped down again and his suit disappeared.

"Wow… pipsqueak picked up his game" Scourge commented having not seen that tech yet.

Within a few minutes Tails entered the field, his scanner ready for any activity.. Stepping into the zone it booted up to fifty percent quickly.

Another step and the field powered up even more. "Looks like we're gonna have to fight?"

Taking a cautious step back the power levels dropped, whatever was waiting must have a proximity sensor and once he reached a certain distance it would attack. He turned and walked back not even questioning how it could see him through his stealth and reappeared next to his companions.

"So what'd you find?" Fiona asked.

"When I approached a rising power level came up, when I backed off it turned off. Whatever is waiting can see in all directions, even my stealth. We're gonna have to fight in" Tails explained.

"Looks like you're gonna have your hands full, wouldn't want to leave me alone, so why don't we give up and go home?" Scourge spoke up sarcastically.

"No we're going in, together I know we can beat whatever is in there. I mean Shadow and Siler alone can take on armies" Fiona said. Her compliment making Shadow and Silver smile "And I hate to admit it but you are a formidable opponent when you actually fight" to Scourge.

"Ok take his restraints off" Tails sighed, it was Scourges time to show if he had an ounce of heroics in him.

Nobody was reassured by his grin hearing that.

Shadow pulled out a key and unshackled himself from the green hedgehog first, then his the restraints on his wrists.

Everyone waited for him to bolt but he surprisingly stood there and smirked "Let's get this over with"

In a few moments the five companions were at the edge of the area Tails detected the power signals and he warned "Alright, I have no idea what's going to happen once we approach, so keep your guard up always"

"Don't need to remind us nerd" Scourge crossed his arms.

"Then you don't mind if you go first" Fiona pushed him forward ahead of them.

"Hey what the hell!?" he yelled turning around glaring angrily at her.

The floor rumbled making Scourge freeze.

Behind him several robots seemingly, constructed into thin air and ran at the green hedgehog ""Just some bots, and you were scared" he chuckled running at them and quickly dispatching them.

He stood smirking "You actually thought this would be hard"

The robots disintegrated and formed again all around him again and pounced on him.

"Gsh, get off!" he yelled struggling.

Finally the other four had enough watching the show and ran into help him. Quickly dispatching the robots again they expected them to just come back.

Their entrance into the area made the floor rumble again.

"I think it's pretty redundant to say, everyone get ready" Tails warned as Scourge got to his feet again dusting off his jacket.

In the same manner as the robots had, a tentacle exploded from the ground and grabbed Shadow throwing him off into the distance and quickly dissipated.

"It's trying to separate us" and it was quite obvious it knew who the strongest of them all was.

Much larger robots constructed around them aiming their guns at the four.

Silver thinking quickly extended both palms out and created a shield half a second before they all shot then expanded it quickly sending all the robots flying in different directions. When they hit the floor they disintegrated only to reform standing again.

Tails saw all of this and suddenly had a theory and his mask started scanning again. Instead of a wide scan he looked straight down and zoomed in.

"Everyone cover me a second I think I know what's happening!"

"You heard him, protect him!" Fiona yelled.

"Great protecting the nerd, where did my life go wrong" Scourge rolled his eyes but got to work.

Tails went to max zoom and found his theory correct, the power signal wasn't a massive signal in the area it was all tiny signals that were so small his wide scan thought it was one thing. The dirt was completely covered in what he guessed were micro bots.

He quickly surmised that they must have been working all together to create these forms, meaning attacking them would be useless. In this area there must have been more nano bots then he could count.

There was only one way, they had to get to that building and ignore all this and get inside.

"Everyone, follow me to the building, we can't fight this"

Nobody questioned him, in the situation there was no time to question his reasoning, all they knew was he was smart and probably had the answer.

"What about Shadow!" Silver managed to ask. He kept a shield behind the four as they ran to avoid any gunfire behind them.

"He'll just have to catch up" Tails said his tails pushing him forward.

Considering Fiona was the slowest Silver also lifted her with his powers and flew using his powers to keep up.

In a few seconds the group reached the building but the ground just rumbled again. So much that Silver nearly fell over.

The robots following them dissipated and for a second it was quiet, nobody did anything.

Tails quickly looked to the building, it was red, like most of Eggmans stuff, it was pretty much a square and now that he was closer he could hear a generator inside. But it was sealed with only one heavy door in their way. From what it looked like the door slid apart to open.

"Silver think you pry it open?" he turned to the young hedgehog who nodded "I'll give it a try"

Glowing green he began trying to open the massive door.

They all heard something huge behind them, signaled from the ground shaking from a huge footstep. Everyone turned to find a forty foot robot looking at them. It was much like the one Tails and Silver took down the day before, only beefed up.

The design stay relatively the same except now the other hand also had a laser cannon on it's wrist. Its shoulders also now had missile pods.

"Tails?" Fiona looked to him for any guidance, or tricks he might have.

"Keep on working on the door Silver, we'll distract it, I have a feeling it's far more frail than it looks" Tails ordered.

"Fiona, try to annoy it, keep its eyes off Silver and us" he pointed to Scourge.

Even though it annoyed her that she was the distraction and not Scourge she had confidence there was a reason, she prepared to do her job while Tails continued to explain.

"Scourge, wait for my signal, I'm gonna scan for a weak spot, then I want you to spin dash there, if my theory is correct it will will crumble"

"Just make it quick" he growled dashing off seeing the cannon aiming at them.

The two foxes noticed and Tails lifted off a grabbed Fiona just before the cannon fired and burned away at the floor they had just been standing on.

He dropped her and got to work while she took a pot shot at the robot to keep its attention.

Stealth activating Tails started scanning and quickly found the hip joints to be the thinnest and easiest to hit.

He looked around and found Scourge waiting somewhere behind the robot and flew over as quickly as he could. Fiona had already narrowly avoided two blasts, he chose her to be a distraction mostly due to her being the most acrobatic but also because it was the last job he had for his plan.

"Scourge, the hip joints, think you can get that?"

"I'll need a little help" he smirked.

Tails nodded getting his drift, it was pretty high so the fox got ready as Scourge ran back a bit.

The fox looked back and saw Fiona avoid another shot and Silver was still working on the door, looked like he wasn't making much headway. He turned back and saw Scourge running his way.

The green hedgehog jumped at Tails cupped hands and jumped as the fox pushed him upwards, their combined effort getting him enough height to reach his target. Scourge entered his spin dash and collided with the joint. It quickly shattered. Near the spot where it broke a visible rain of nanobots fell off the broken parts desperately trying to connect again but it was too late.

The robot came crashing down and pooled outwards like sand.

Fiona and Scourge cheered but Tails yelled "We're not done, not until that door opens, those are nanobots, they'll just reconstruct"

The fox and hedgehog stopped cheering already seeing his theory was correct. The massive robot materialized again, but something was a little different. The joint they broke was now much thicker to prevent that happening again.

All three noticed.

"Better find a new weakness pipsqueak!" Scourge yelled.

Before they could get going again a blue energy spear smashed into the robots back and pieced through its chest. Everyone including the robot looked back to see Shadow readying another spear which he threw again.

The second spear caused the nanobot structure to fall apart again and Tails yelled "Stop! You need your strength to help with the door" he'd have sent him there already but he had to get back here after being thrown away.

"I need you and Silver to work together on that door, and please be quick" he said this over their radios since Shadow had been quite far away when he threw the spear.

"Got it" he said running past Tails to the door as the robot once again reconstructed itself.

"Same plan?" Fiona yelled.

"It's the only one I have" Tails yelled back so everyone got ready again.

Taking a quick looked to Shadow and Silver who were now working together to open the door. It looked like it might actually work now, using chaos control on the door he could see it was ever so slightly working now.

"Alright, just got to hold it off a little longer" hopefully just one more time.

It fully reformed and Fiona took a shot to distract it again.

Tails got to scanning again and Scourge avoided being seen.

This time Tails couldn't find any spots where Scourge could one shot the machine but did find the knee was weak enough for something slightly different. It required some pretty dangerous timing though.

Finding Scourge again he explained "The knees, but I'm gonna have to weaken it while you approach, too early and the nanobots will fill in the broken spots before you reach it… too late and well…. You get roasted"

"You definitely are trying to kill me" he rolled his eyes but knew it must be the only way "Fine, nerd"

Once again they performed the vault perfectly like before. Tails turned as he sent off Scourge and aimed his rifle at the knees firing his explosives at it. Four hit their mark and the fox patiently waited seeing Scourge spinning in.

Timing it right Tails hit a button on his weapon and all four explosives went off at the same time staggering the robot.

Scourge flew into the fireball, exploding out the other side, a little singed but unharmed.

The robot once again fell and disintegrated again.

Shadow then yelled over the radio "Hurry, we got it open but the door will force itself closed if we let up the pressure" his voice sounded tired, so they all hurried.

Scourge made it first slipping into the crack. Tails and Fiona arrived at about the same time, behind them the robot building itself again. They both ran in leaving Silver ad Shadow outside.

"You go first Silver"

"What but you might be left out here? Silver asked worried.

"If I do then I'll just ran out of here" sweat coming off his brow.

"Alright" the younger hedgehog nodded walking to the door still glowing and slipping inside. As he did the robot fully formed and it's shoulder pods opened and fired several missile at the lone hedgehog.

He gasped ending his chaos control and dove out of the way, the missiles exploding where he'd been standing.

Since he'd ended his chaos control the doors closed, he called "Silver wasn't still in there was he?" it happened so fast he couldn't tell.

Tails came back "No he just made it what happened?"

"It fired on me, so I had to move, I'll get out of here, you figure out how to turn these things off" if he and Silver tried to open it again he'd be blasted. So he ran off away from the robot and escaped the area. With his escape the nanobots deconstructed finding no more threats.

Shadow quickly called Tails "I think the nanobots are confined to the area, but not inside the building, everything has calmed down"

"Good to hear, it's all clear in here too" Tails said sounding a little relieved.

The group of four continued walking. The generator Tails heard was humming in the far corner of the relatively small building. Inside it was even smaller than it looked. The building must have been heavily armored to avoided anyone blasting it, which meant a lot of its size was taken by the shear width of the armor no wonder it took Silver and Shadow to even inch the door open.

Very quickly they noticed it was a jail, six rooms went down the small hallway, three on each side. Walking passed each door, everyone single one was empty until they reached the last door on the right.

Inside they found someone.

Inside sat a lavender cat, Tails recognized her instantly "It's Blaze"

She was sleeping and the door had no handle so they looked around.

The only other feature of the building was a console at the very end of the hall against the wall. A keyboard extended from the wall to allow control and a screen was above it.

"This must be a prison" Tails said approaching and started typing.

"All this just for Blaze?" Fiona asked remembering the name and stories about her.

Tails shook his head getting into the records "This place was built for specific people…. Wait seven, I only see six cells?" he questioned.

"The building was made way before Eggmans attack, and was fully activated only days after the freedom fighters were killed. On the same day Blaze was put here too" he explained.

"Wow, this place has food to last one hundreds years for all seven occupants. Eggman wanted to keep them here forever, and it's deployed through the floor, nobody is actually here running this place" that explained why nobody attacked them yet, the defenses outside were the only deterrents, pretty damn good ones. Near indestructible armor and a field of un-killable opponents.

"She's pretty" Silver said looking through the small window at the cat but everyone ignored him.

Tails continued "The cells were specially designed for their respective occupants, Blazes cell is resistant to heat and fire she'd never be able to make a fire hot enough to melt the metal and escape, even in her super form"

"One of the others was for Sonic, no explanation needed for why he has one for him. It was designed to resist any amount of speed Sonic could make"

"Another was made specifically for Shadow, built with a lining that would keep him from using his chaos powers, plus everything Sonics cell had. This stuff must be at Eggmans main base too, I doubt he'd let Shadow use his powers in there if he had this kind of countermeasure here"

Scourge cut in "Bet he's got one for me" puffing out his chest.

"Nope"

Fiona just laughed at him.

"As for the others It looks like he had one for Knuckles, obviously reinforced so he couldn't punch through it, one for Sally, no real modifications since she had no powers and the last was for me, also mostly unmodified"

"Ok, but you mentioned a seventh?" Fiona asked eyebrow raised.

"I'm looking… I can't…"

"Why would Eggman make a place like this, why wouldn't he just kill you all" Scourge asked.

Fiona shook her head "Probably the same reason for imprisoning me all those years ago, to gloat, experiment and feel control, and make copies of us"

Silver spoke again "Hey are we gonna let her out?" he suspected they would but he wanted her out sooner than later and end her imprisonment.

Fiona nodded "Come on Tails let her out"

He didn't speak back typing away in a trance.

"Hey nerd, you got those big ears, use em" Scourge pushed his shoulder.

"Screw off Scourge, I trying to save the seventh prisoner!" his voice sounded desperate, his eyes darting around the screen and his fingers typing as fast as he could.

"What do you mean?" Fiona asked.

"Just shut up, I'm trying to concentrate" he growled.

They all waited silently as he continued to type and growl in frustration "Come on… come on" he mumbled.

Suddenly with a beep a small memory stick popped out of the console and Tails took a deep sigh of relief. Above him everyone saw he'd finished whatever he'd been doing with only two seconds to go.

"So where is this person?" Silver asked not understanding.

Tails just smirked panting and pointed to memory stick "We now have our hacker"

 **I think ending it there will be fun, I'm sure I gave enough hints to answered who it is, I'm pretty sure you'll figure it out if you're a comics fan. Hell the security should give you a hint… OOPS, said too much, haha.**

 **I'm also glad how the whole fight ended up, I was able to find a role for everyone to do, I was worried I go into fights with all these people and be like "Well Shadow and Silver mopped up all the robots with their super amazing powers" but I found some obstacles to switch things around.**

 **Anyway I hope it was fun to read, believable and easy to read, hope my shitty grammar doesn't damage it too bad(Thank guest guy)**

 **Anyway Go ahead and guess who it is or leave a review like always, check out my other stuff if ya want(Disclaimer, I'll try to remember to put this here all time so ignore it if you want)**

 **Finally, go and live long and prosper!**

 **Admiralkirk**


	16. It was never enough

**A/N Hey Chapter 16, how fun.**

 **To Shade of Naxx, you actually made me laugh, but no worries about not knowing much of Star trek, , totally honest I know more about Star wars but because my birthname is legitimately Kirk…. That's why. I've asked my dad if he named me after Captain Kirk(Since he is a star trek fan) he says no but I know he means to say yes. More importantly…. I forgot that Blaze has her own Eggman…. Awkward. I do have a explanation anyway.**

Fiona stared down at the small memory stick jaw dropped. The odds of finding her, it was slim to none. Plus they had spoken about her just before they left for this mission, it was like some crapy story.

"That's Nicole?"

Tails nodded smiling, he was clearly glad to see her "I always hoped she'd be still operating"

The female fox asked "Ok what made you think that?"

Tails explained "A couple weeks after Eggmans attacks, I realized things weren't getting better, so I ventured to Freedom HQ to see what was going on. I hoped that I'd find them either winning or about to win but it was quite the opposite. I found the place trashed, recently ransacked by eggbots"

Fiona frowned thinking of her old home, the place completely trashed because nobody was there anymore.

Tails continued "I eventually found Nicole's handheld, I activated it and found she wasn't in there. I knew she hadn't been deleted or there's be left over data, like an echo. It was entirely empty. Someone downloaded her out of it and now I know who" he picked up the small device that held their friend "I kept the device as a memento, when we get back I'll upload her there. I'll try to fix up the base with projectors for her. Projectors are easy to make and I got plenty of supplies for those"

Fiona had a heart warming smile, someone had defied the odds and survived among the Freedom fighters.

Silver spoke up again "Hey, so you gonna open Blazes door yet?" he was getting impatient now.

Tails just looked at him and said "Listen, I would have let her out sooner, but like I suspected this place had a kill switch. As soon as I gained access to the computer it started a countdown to purge everyone including Nicole" he pointed to the freezed countdown. If we opened it a few seconds ago Blaze would have been killed instantly, then us and Nicole. But yes, here" he pressed a button and the door slid open and Silver walked inside.

Tails was about to keep talking again but heard Silver yelp in fright. He quickly put Nicole's memory stick in a safe pocket and followed Fiona and Scourge to the doorway.

"Hey, calm down I'm not here to hurt you, we're freeing you" they heard his voice nervously explain, coming around the corner.

What they saw was Blaze on top of Silver threatening him with a claw to his neck.

"And why should I believe you, nobody has gotten in here in over two years!" she growled deep in her throat while Silver held his hands up in a surrender position.

"Blaze, let him go please" Tails approached, the voice causing her to very quickly look his way and freeze seeing the familiar face.

"Tails? How did you?...How did you get here?"

He wanted to end the deadly situation said "If you let the kid up I'll explain"

She quickly tensed not liking that deal "Not a chance, not until I know you are all real"

He just rolled his eyes and said "Ok, Silver, let her test you"

He gulped as her claws slowly moved from his neck to a patch on his arm and sent a single claw down his arm "Oww" he yelped and began to bleed. She visibly sighed climbing off him and cautiously approached Tails doing the same to him. He bled as well.

Fiona walked over and Blaze flinched at her approach, she was really jumpy, no doubt being in a cell all alone for what she said was two years had to be hard on you.

"You… also look familiar" she eyed her intensely.

"I'm Fiona, do you remember that name?" she asked extending her arm.

Blaze cut her before answering finding her blood as well and said "You are the one who left the Freedom fighters for Scourge… speaking of which" she looked past both of them to see the hedgehog himself.

"Stay away form me, I ain't letting some cat cut me, I know who I am" crossing his arms in defense.

Tails and Fiona looked to one another then lunged at him forcibly pinning him against the wall and taking out an arm.

"Get off, you assholes, get off me!"

Blaze approached and cut into him making his growl in anger but also bled.

The cat visibly relaxed again and sighed "How did you all get in here?" Silver had gotten up and passed by her making her flinch and tense once more but when he continued to walk past she relaxed again.

Tails explained again "We got some information off a robot about this place and came, we thought it was something else like a storage facility that held plant life, but it turns out it was you and Nicole"

"Nicole?" she asked not remembering the name, understandable from her isolation.

"The AI Sally used to carry around"

"Right" she shook her head.

"How'd you get in, this place is heavily defended, atleast that's what Eggman kept gloating over the intercom" she frowned.

Scourge scoffed "Ya, this place was surrounded by a huge field of mini-bots or whatever they are called that could make themselves into giant damn robots and would just rebuild any damage"

"That's all? I thought it would have been more, that's what Eggman said…." She looked down realizing she'd been tricked and that this lie had made her lose hope in the past. She felt foolish for believing such a lie, but how would she have known otherwise?

"Anyway, I guess this raid has turned into a rescue mission, come with us. We have a safe place" Tails explained trying to look as welcoming as he could "You can explain how this happened when you feel up to it"

The cat nodded and followed the four out of the cell, she looked around and said "Is this it… all that's been outside?"

"Yes" Tails nodded. He walked to the console again and prepared to open the large door but noticed something.

"The nanobots have shut down… it looks like Nicole had been controlling them?"

Silver was surprised, she had been their friend in the past apparently "But she's our friend right?"

"I don't know, we'll get answers once I get her inside her device again" he hoped she'd been tricked to attack them. He opened the door from the console and turned seeing the two giant pieces of metal slide apart.

"Hope Shadow isn't getting too impatient" Fiona commented.

Blaze twitched on edge "Shadow is with you too?" she had to check him now.

"Ya he had to be left outside, he and I were needed to just barely get those doors open, before he could get inside the defenses attacked him so he was left outside. He's fine though" Silver answered.

"Well I'm checking him" Blaze said.

Nobody questioned her except Scourge who chuckled "Just try to cut him, he'll bash your face in first"

"He won't touch me" was all she growled out.

Walking outside they found Tails' theory correct, the nanobots didn't attack them and they all quickly looked around for a silhouette of the hedgehog they were looking for.

"There he is!" Silver yelled pointing out in the direction they'd originally come from and the group approached, Blaze clearly on edge until she checked to see if Shadow was a fake or not. Her rational mind knew he must be real, they must have all checked eachother, but she irrationally needed to see it herself.

As they approached Shadow stood cross armed and opened his eyes. He quickly noticed his old friend and ally "Blaze, you were in there?" he actually seemed surprised, why wasn't she back in the Sol dimension?

The group stopped besides Blaze, Fiona quickly saying "She's gonna cut you to see if you're a robot, she checked all of us so just do it"

He growled but reluctantly extended his arm and with a quick swipe blood came from his wound and Blaze visibly calmed.

She now had a friendly smile "It's good to see you again, after so long some friendly faces are what I need"

"Well, as friendly as Shadow can get" Fiona chuckled.

Tails then asked "Blaze what happened? How'd you get here?"

The cat looked down and sighed "I failed my duties"

"You lost the Sol emeralds?" Shadow asked.

"No… do you remember that you and a Metal Sonic visited my universe and I helped you find him?"

"Of course"

She sighed "Just over two years ago one caught me by surprise and sent me to this dimension for Eggman. I was teleported into a cell which was filled with knock out gas. Eggman took the Sol emeralds when I was out"

"What'd he do with them?" Tails joined.

Blaze waved her hands in all directions "Look around you"

Everyone realized what she meant, he used the Sol emeralds, which were connected with fire to burn their world.

It was Fiona's turn to ask "But I saw how it happened, he had legions of his robots burn forests and attack cities?"

Blaze nodded "Well yes he did that, near all major population centers. There's no way he could burn the whole world in a matter of hours. The robots cleared all the places close to where people could see them to hide it. He used the Sol emeralds to burn the rest of the more isolated land almost instantly. After that he sent me to that prison and I've been there ever since…. With nothing to think about but my failure that killed your world"

Silver spoke up seeing her pain and said softly "It wasn't your fault Blaze, you couldn't have predicted any of this, nobody did"

"But I still should have been ready, and because I didn't have my guard up Eggman has my Sol emeralds, killed millions and doomed your world" she began to cry as she had before feeling like all those lives were killed by her.

Silver approached her and tried to comfort her but she just slapped his hands away growling deep in her throat "I don't need your pity!" her outburst making the young hedgehog back off.

"How about revenge?" Shadow asked.

Her eyes flicked to him hearing the word revenge and said darkly "Of course, he still has the emeralds, meaning I have to fight to get them back"

Tails smirked "We came here to steal plants but we came out with Blaze and Nicole, excellent"

Scourge rolled his eyes "Risked out lives for a cat and a computer stick, I'm just loving this" his sarcasm dripping from his mouth.

He was mostly ignored and Blaze was curious about something "You mentioned your base, how does it stay hidden?"

"It's underground, we've got plenty of food and beds" Tails explained.

"If you've stayed hidden this long then I guess it must be secure, I will help you. I really don't have any other choice" she didn't seem angry like Scourge was. She had a job to do and the only way to get back to it was to help them.

With that the group headed back, Blaze was quiet. That was ok, but everyone could tell it wasn't just because she was a quiet person. She'd been locked up for two years completely alone with nothing but Eggmans taunts. To add to that she had failed at her job and had all that time to think about it. Eggman didn't even need to torture her, because she most likely tortured herself.

Nobody really spoke, Tails was curious to see what state Nicole was in. She had been inside Eggmans computer for a long time. She attacked them with those nanobots and apparently gave no mercy. Either she was being tricked by programming of the computer around her, or she was being forced. Or worse…

That was about the time Scourge asked "So with that lead gone what the hell are we gonna do now?"

Silver nodded "Same, we got nothing left to go on now"

The two tailed fox sighed "Right now we have nothing, but we still need to speak with Nicole. She might have something for us to go on. That is if she hasn't been changed"

"Wait Eggman could have turned her against us and changed her?" Fiona asked worried that if they brought her online she could trick them now.

"Changed is the wrong way to describe it" he said realizing he said that too "No, She's an AI, meaning her programming can't be changed with ease like virtual intelligence or something like that. Since Ai's are like us, they are individuals so they wouldn't allow their coding to be changed. No what I mean is maybe he tortured her and forced her to change her personality herself…. She could be psychotic… but then again she may have been tricked into attacking us. Like wearing glasses that make you see monsters when they are actually friends"

"I really hope it was just a trick" Fiona sighed.

"To be safe I'll make sure when I activate her handheld that it can't connect to my base. If we don't see any troubling signs we'll keep her around and I'll set up a separate network for her projectors so she still won't be connected to the base systems" Tails clearly had a plan ready for all problems.

Fiona stayed quiet then asked "How are we gonna tell her?"

"What?" Tails asked.

"Nicole will want to know where everyone is… especially Sally" a frown on her face.

Tails paused not sure what to say, he knew how dangerous Nicole could be already, if she was told all her friends, especially her best friend had been killed she might become even worse.

"I'll figure it out when it comes"

Night came and the, now, group of six huddled around the heating lamp.

While sitting like that they caught Blaze up on recent events. Shadow and Silver explained their story, how they met, their time working together and how they met up with Fiona and Tails.

Something everyone noticed was that Silver boasted a bit, so much so that Shadow had to give him 'the eye' to make him shut up.

After that Tails explained his story, not as detailed as before, briefly explaining that he left the Freedom fighters for a job opportunity. Nobody added to his story.

Fiona was next and explained her story just as detailed as before, explaining that Scourge abandoned her, much to his annoyance. Then she explained her search for a safe place to live. She briefly touched on her life then explained how she went in search of the man who would be Tails.

"So technically… you're the founder of this team?" Blaze asked.

"Sort of, I guess" she scratched her head feeling a little awkward hearing that.

After that Scourge very briefly explained how he got here, same as before. He pissed some people off who promptly stole his warp ring and used it to trap him here.

"And after all this time we've found eachother. It seems we've defied the odds" Blaze managed a smile. She'd heard of Scourge and his actions, and also heard of what Fiona did. She was cautious of Scourge but after hearing Fionas story she was sure she was trustworthy. It was her that made it possible for them to be together right now.

Everyone but Scourge nodded in agreement.

There was a generally good feeling among the group for once. Things actually looked better. Even though their mission ended differently than they expected the original four were happy they had a chance now. Blaze was a powerful ally, and Nicole was what Tails finally needed to hack Eggmans systems. Assuming she was ok.

Not much else was said and everyone went to sleep.

The next day continued like before, the walk home was still quiet. By mid day they reached the base and Tails let everyone in.

Blaze looked around amazed by what she saw. She couldn't believe a place like this still existed but Tails kept everything working and hidden. He truly amazed her.

While she did this Tails got to work preparing Nicole and her handheld. He put the memory stick on his desk and went to the far back of the workshop to some shelves. He searched among it and soon found the old device and blew away the dust.

Carefully he opened up the device making sure everything was in working order. When he found everything in order he carefully opened it up and removed the parts that allowed her to connect to networks wirelessly before closing it up again.

When he was done all that he called for Fiona, she had experience with the AI that nobody else here had so she should be here to evaluate her.

When she arrived Tails began the process of uploading her back into the device.

"How long will this take?" she asked watching from behind.

"A few minutes at most" he replied.

They both watched the screen reach fifty percent completion and Tails spoke again.

"I'm gonna hook up a power ring to her. If she attacks one of us we'll distract her and the other takes it out, got it?"

She nodded leaning against the wall.

Another couple minutes passed and the screen hit one hundred percent.

Tails reached into a cupboard and pulled out a power ring. It was filled with more so he wasn't hurting his supply.

He slipped the ring into the device and they waited for something to happen.

Within a few moments the device started projecting and pixels started building from the floor up. Feet appeared first, then legs. The rest of the familiar lynx built up. She didn't look any different than before.

Her fur remained light brown and her hair still swept over her forehead to the side. Her dress from before was still purple and strapless. In general she was exactly the same.

After forming she looked dizzy and leaned against Tails' desk.

"W-where… where am I?" she asked looking around not seeing the two yet.

"You're somewhere safe" Tails said.

The lynx turned laying her eyes on them "Tails?... Fiona? It's been so long, what happened?"

Both foxes to looked to one another.

"Do you not remember anything?" Tails asked.

"My records says I've been out of my handheld for around two years, I remember everything up to that point" she explained rubbing her head "Why was I out of my handheld?"

Fiona looked to Tails hoping he would explain.

Luckily he did and stepped forward "You've been a prisoner of Eggman for the last two years. We saved you yesterday"

"What? I… was with Eggman, how?" the very idea she was away from her friends and under Eggmans care scared her.

"Do you remember the Freedom fighters went to go fight him after what he did?"

"Yes, Sally told me I should stay and take care of the headquarters….. what happened?" she was starting to remember things better now, they never came back for over a week.

Tails took a deep breath and Fiona tensed ready for anything "They are gone… they are all gone"

"Gone? Where?" she was already trying to deny what he truly meant.

"You don't understand, they were all killed"

"No… No!... Even Sally" she was already dropping virtual tears that disappeared before they could hit the floor.

"I'm sorry" Tails looked away not able to face her as she dropped to her knees.

"No, this can't be. How could they all be gone!?"

Fiona approached the lynx and kneeled down next to her "I know, I learned about it a few weeks ago…. I'm sorry"

"All of them… all gone" she moaned into her paws.

Tails simply watched, his old self would have been where Fiona was right now but he wasn't that kid anymore and kneeled down in front of her and said "We're going to avenge them all"

"Nicole slowly stopped crying and looked at the male fox and a growl escaped her throat "How?"

"We have a few others here, they all have a grudge against Eggman for one reason or another, even Scourge, we're going to find him, make him pay for what he's done and destroy everything he's built and save Mobius"

The mention of Scourge didn't seem to bother her as her tears stopped and she imagined finding the fat man and smirked "Whatever you need, I'm in. He killed my friends, my best friend. Sonic and Sally would want us to keep him alive…. It's far too late for mercy like that"

Fiona and Tails looked to one another and smirked, she was definitely on their side.

"We'll make him pay Nicole, we promise" Fiona said.

"Who else is here?" she asked the two foxes.

Tails started counting off his fingers "Fiona and I. Shadow, his…. Side kick Silver, Scourge and Blaze who we found in the same prison as you"

"Why is Scourge here?" the lynx getting to her feet.

"Let's just say he's stuck here and Eggman hunted him down for a few weeks before we saved him. It's either he stays and helps or leaves and continues to be hunted" Tails explained.

"I'd like to go meet them" she smiled suddenly turning to her normal cheerful self picking up her handheld so she could walk around freely.

"Go ahead" he gave a light smile leading her to the door.

Outside Blaze was just finishing up learning about the whole base and had met Rosemary. Hearing the workshop door open they all looked to the trio.

"That's Nicole?" Silver asked being surprised.

"I am Nicole, you must Silver" she smiled to the new face.

"Good to meet ya, glad you're ok"

"What do you mean?" She looked to Tails for answers.

"I don't know how it worked but while captured by Eggman you were hooked up to the prisons defense systems. You controlled a huge area dominated by nano bots, they attacked us when we entered. You were atleast somewhat connected to them somehow"

The lynx gasped and turned to the larger group "I'm so sorry, I would never attack you. I don't remember anything from the last two years"

Shadow lifted a hand to silence her and said "Whatever was the situation, you weren't in control, full control, or being tricked you seem fine now. No hard feelings"

"Ya well not for me, because of your nano bots I ended up burning up my jacket a bit" Scourge revealed a few singed spots along the leather.

"Your Jacket was already trashed before that, the burns just blend in" Fiona taunted him, his response being a roll of the eyes.

Nicole looked to Blaze and remembered what Tails said "Blaze, you were in prison with me, did I ever say anything to you?"

"No, the only voice I ever heard was Eggmans"

She frowned, partially because she felt bad for not being able to speak with Blaze in her isolation but also because she didn't get a clue of her state of mind in there.

"Nicole it's good to see you alright" Rosemary's voice came over the speakers.

The lynx looked up and asked "Who's that?"

"That's the Ai that runs the base, Tails' mom, or Rosemary as we call her" Fiona explained.

"It's nice to meet you Rosemary" she smiled.

"I hope you are alright Nicole, you can speak with me any time you want" the mother offered.

"Thank you, maybe some other time"

"Of course"

Tails spoke up "I'll be working on a projector system for all the rooms for you. You'll hook up to it and you'll be able to project yourself around the base without a power ring. Unfortunately it won't be able to make a solid hologram"

"Thank you Tails, I appreciate that" she smiled, it wouldn't be like what Rotor made but it was what he could make with the resources he had and that was enough for her for now.

Nicole got the grand tour of the base after that catching up with everyone like Blaze had.

When that was over Tails left to go work on the projector system.

Once inside he locked the door and took a deep breath. Everything had luckily gone their way, Blaze was working with them and Nicole wasn't corrupted. Only one thing left to do.

Answer the question Fiona asked…

Tails walked to the shelves in the back and pulled away a tarp to reveal an electronic piano. He'd learned to play a bit in his spare time after he left the Freedom fighters. Clearly he hadn't touched it in awhile considering all the dust.

He smiled looking at it and lifted it off the shelf and brought it over the to desk and layed it down. He quickly checked to see if it even worked still and after turning it on and hitting a few keys he heard notes.

He nodded happy with that and found a radio as well on the shelf and looked inside to see the disc he wanted.

Looking at all this he thought back to the last time he'd done this. He tested himself, when he lied to himself about her, this was how knew for sure.

A test to see if he still loved her or if he got over her. So far, the last four times, he failed. He hadn't done this in three and a half years.

Today though, he still didn't know if he was over her yet, maybe he was lying to himself. If it was his anger it was a mask to hide the truth. Today he needed to know, it was time to answer this question once and for all.

He turned on the radio and went to the song he wanted and took a deep breath as it began. As he prepared the sound of scratching, broken sounding notes played, ever single one making him twitch somewhere. Setting up his fingers ready for it to truly begin.

Then the piano came about a minute and thirty seconds in and Tails played along note for note. He calmly played feeling a chill down his spine and prepared to sing the vocals.

 _To love somebody naturally_

 _To love somebody faithfully_

 _To live somebody equally_

 _Is not enough, it's not enough_

… _it's not enough_

Taking in a breath he stood firm continuing to play along, he wasn't worried that anyone would hear him, the rooms were sound proof.

 _To love somebody secretly(and never touch)_

 _To love somebody honestly(and always trust)_

 _To love somebody tenderly_

 _The tender touch is not enough_

 _It's not enough_

The guitar and drums kicked in as the rhythm sped up

 _Love hurts sometimes_

 _It's not easy to find, no_

 _Searching everywhere, you turn and swear(ahh-ahh-ah)_

 _It's always been there_

The song slowed again Tails taking a hitched breath as only the piano and a little bit of drums were heard again.

 _To love somebody foolishly(Can happen once)_

 _To love somebody hopelessly(it hurts so much)_

 _Is not enough, it's not enough_

 _It's not enough_

Once again the music picked up as Tails prepared to sing, to the furthest spot he'd ever gotten to in the past.

 _Love takes a little time_

 _It's not so easy to find, no, no_

 _Searching everywhere, you turn and swear_

 _It's always been there!_

The guitar solo began and Tails could feel it all coming up, water escaping his eyes, in the past he'd only ever reached here before breaking down and stopping it, but he was hardened now and even though he was sure what the answer was now he needed to finish this.

Early in the solo he managed to say the solitary line before the solo took full effect

 _Standing there…_

As it played he could feel himself holding back the tears and grit his teeth forcing himself from reaching over and ending it. Finally the vocals came back and he gulped forcing the lump in his throat down. And readied to play the keys again.

 _And if it don't come easily_

 _One thing you must believe_

 _You can always have trust in me_

 _Cause my heart will always be, yours honestly_

For the final time the music kicked up

 _Yeah! Love hurts you sometimes_

 _Not to easy to find, no-oh_

 _Searching everywhere, you turn and swear(Ahh-ahh-ah)_

 _It's always been there, standing there_

 _Love hurts you sometimes_

 _It's not yours, it's not mine no-oh_

 _Live is only to share_

 _You turn and swear(ahh-ahh-ah) it's everywhere_

 _Standin there(ahh-ah)_

 _Cause it's always been there_

Panting as he finished the last few notes the tears finally streamed from his eyes. Covering his eyes he half curled up. His legs trembled under his own weight and his shoulders shuddered from every breath.

He tried to calm but found it incredibly hard, he hadn't cried since the last time he did this and now it was all coming out, three and a half years of bottled up emotions finally flowing again.

All that ran through his mind was "I have my answer…"

 **So that's chapter 16, everything is doing pretty good, except new mental scars.**

 **I don't own this song, it's owned by Van Halen, it's called "Not enough" if you want to listen to it, some versions don't have the messed up scratching broken notes at the beginning. The one I used was on youtube and the artwork is red with black lines and stuff. Incase you're interested.**

 **That whole sequence I actually thought of while on the bus from work. Just had my Van halen playing got to this and knew it was perfect. I hope nobody finds it distracting or annoying but I felt like putting it in there, and honestly thinking about this version of Tails, Fiona and this song does bring a small tear to my eye. But that's just me.**

 **This was also my first try at a true music spot, once before I used music as part of a joke to make fun of Shadow but you'll have to read my other story for that one.**

 **Besides that I don't have much to say, if you want to understand why I chose to do that son I highly suggest you take a listen. It's an odd song in Van halen, cause it oddly gets slow a little softer.**

 **Anyway live long and prosper**

 **Admiralkirk**


	17. a leisurely walk

**A/N Once again I'm sorry to anyone who didn't enjoy the singing spot, I heard the song one night and just knew that I had to do it. I promise I will try to avoid it.**

 **To anyone who enjoyed that spot I'm glad.**

 **And Shade of Naxx- lol**

Tails unlocked his lab door, nobody had wanted to come inside in the hour. He was glad for that, he had looked terrible for most of that time. He'd cleaned himself up since then and now he carried that same near emotionless face as always.

He put away the old musical equipment and got to work like he promised, everything was spinning too fast in his mind. Somehow getting through the entire song seemed to help. He'd never gotten through it before but now that he had he felt more confident. He was stronger than his emotions now.

He just needed to think clearly now, get his mind straight. Work would do that, like it always did. A smile crept up his face as he started and soon he was in a dazed state finally at work.

Outside…

Nicole smiled to Fiona who had accompanied her through the entire tour. Everyone else dispersed when it began since they'd already shown Blaze around.

"Thank you Fiona, it was kind of you to show me around" the lynx continued her normal smile facing the fox.

"No problem, I don't really do much around here to be honest, most of the time we're waiting on Tails to discover something or make a plan" Fiona explained "I'm sure he'll find you more useful than the rest of us"

The lynx frowned puzzled by her choice of words; at first she thought it was a joke but quickly analyzing her face proved otherwise.

The fox sighed "I guess it had to come out some time. Tails has changed a lot since either of us last met him. He's not the sweet little nerd we knew" she frowned looking away and rubbed her arm nervously "What I did to him…. It hurt him far worse than I could have imagined"

"He wasn't acting himself when we forced him to leave, has he gotten any worse?" she remembered all those years ago just like Tails explained. He'd crossed the line and nobody felt safe around him anymore.

"You could say he has, I mean… when I found him…. He tried to crush my skull in"

"What!?" the Ai was horrified, so much so her body fuzzed up during her outburst then fully reformed again. He tried to murder her "What happened to him?"

Fiona sighed "After he left the Freedom fighters he says he kinda stopped seeing anyone, apparently he became a vigilante of sorts. When Eggman destroyed everything his isolation went to the extreme and his emotions festered for that entire time. I think he saw me and just let it all out. He's under control now and says he's trying to forgive me. Maybe a little of his old self is in there"

Nicole frowned, her friend had fallen so far, but the small hope that he was forgiving her made her smile.

The fox wanted to warn her though "Just be cautious still, he's still angry, if you piss him off he'll let you know"

The lynx nodded "Thank you for the warning, I will keep that in mind"

Fiona was about to leave when Nicole asked "So you said Scourge left you behind? That means you two aren't….?" she paused not sure how to say it, and partially found it a little improper to ask such a question now.

"Yes we're done, I can never fully trust him anymore. Why? Afraid I'll turn on you all again?" she didn't blame her, the past tended to repeat itself a lot.

"No I trust you, we're all here because of you. I owe you a lot in an odd way. Had you not set out to find help to take vengeance on Eggman you'd have never found Blaze and I. I'd still be in there under Eggmans control. I owe you much Fiona. I have a chance to show this world one last time that I am good and not just a computer that can change sides and be used, and I have chance to avenge all my friends death as well. I won't waste this opportunity" The lynx smiled thankfully, she had a chance to redeem herself in the eyes of the remaining Mobians. Something she had wanted to do for so long. Ever since she was used against them and that song ruined her reputation.

"I know you won't" Fiona smiled and paused.

"Is something wrong?" Nicole asked.

The fox just sighed and asked "You were with them after I left… did…. Did they hate me?"

"No" she gave a heart warming smile and took the foxes hand "Nobody hated you, they were just angry. You hurt them, yes, but nobody wished any ill will on you. Sally told me she punched you once when you tried to use Tails' emotions. She didn't hate you she just wanted you to stop. She even said after those events that she hoped you'd come back some day" her smile disappeared "Too bad…. They all had to die for that day to come"

The words stung, badly. She was right, with them all dead this team was almost like the B-team. They weren't the Freedom fighters, they never would be, but maybe they could be something else. All they needed to do was get their act together.

"I may not have been around with them like you had but…. They were my friends. Whether I realized it or not, their deaths won't be in vain. I promise you Nicole, I'll do everything I can to make this right" she looked into the lynx's green eyes determined.

"So will I" she said back.

With all that agreed upon Fiona smiled "Well I don't know about you but I'm finally gonna get into Tails' movie collection"

"I think someone had that idea already" Nicole said pointing to Silver and Scourge in the rec room. The green hedgehog had the single chair in the room while Silver sat on the floor.

"Guess I'll join them" Fiona shrugged.

"Alright then, I will see you later then" she waved.

Elsewhere Blaze was speaking with Shadow in the shared bedroom, she claimed a bed quickly glad to have a comfy place to sleep again.

Shadow explained his time protecting the town with Silver in more depth. She had inquired how the two of them had been able to hold off all of Eggmans army by themselves. The dark hedgehog had explained he was in possession of a chaos emerald and the threat he made to Eggman to force a stalemate.

"That is quite a lie" Blaze said impressed.

"Who says it's a lie when neither of us know I could do it" Shadow smirked "That's why it was beautiful, why it was effective. Because I didn't even know, made me seem a little more truthful"

"It seems you learned a lot from Rouge didn't you?" the cat smiled remembering the bat had been apart of his party in the Sol dimension.

"Perhaps"

Blaze then asked "So why take in the kid? I mean I know you needed help but you kept him when Fiona and Tails showed up?"

Shadow thought about it and said "Maybe I just knew he'd be useful" he clearly wanted to avoid the question.

"I don't think so, I think you like having him around… I think he's like a protégé" she smiled.

"And what if he is?"

"Then I'm glad, you can be a good teacher, I know it, and he hasn't seemed to catch your emo yet" she managed a joke.

He rolled his eyes "He's a good kid, hopefully by the end he'll stay that way"

Blaze nodded and both were quiet for a time until she noticed his leg "Your leg?" some concern in her voice.

"Don't worry about it, it's fine" his leg shifted a away a bit.

Blaze wanted to ask more but knew how the male could be "I don't mean to pry"

He very suddenly said "I got this the day I failed my promise to Sonic…. A constant reminder that I couldn't save any of them"

Blaze frowned.

"Anyway, do you feel alright? None of this happening too fast?" looking to her.

"I think I am doing well, don't worry about me"

"You were locked up for two years,, it can't be good for you" Shadow replied showing some worry for his old friend.

"I know… I will figure things out my own way"

Shadow knew she wasn't one to change her mind but offered "You have friends to talk to if you need it" but got up and left it at that before she could reply.

The dark hedgehog left to go do some excises and after a short time Blaze felt the need to sleep. She instantly found the bed to be one of the most comfortable things she'd felt in a long time and quickly succumbed to slumber.

About an hour later Tails came out of the workshop wanting a break. He could hear the TV on in the rec room and guessed people had gotten into his movie collection, he didn't really mind, not like he'd used them any time recently..

Walking into the control room he sat down and said "Hey mum, anything happen?"

"No, things have been mostly quiet, Miles"

"Good to hear" he typed away at the keyboard and asked "Any problems I should know about?"

"Surprisingly no, the base seems to be in perfect order for once, nothing needs your attention right now"

Hearing that made Tails sigh, a day to just relax for once, man did he need that.

"What's everyone else up to?" he asked

"Well Blaze went for a nap, Shadow is working out a bit. Scourge, Silver and Fiona are watching movies and Nicole said she'd be in her PDA putting everything back where it was supposed to be" she listed off.

The fox nodded and said "I think I'm gonna go for a walk"

"Alright, be careful out there"

"You know I will" the fox managed a smile before getting some light gear, mostly just one of his belts with some stuff inside in the pockets. It would be one of the first times he's left the base without his armor on in a awhile.

Within a few minutes Tails silently left without anyone knowing besides his mom.

In the tv room…

Scourge sat in the lone chair near the tv and leaned on the arm.

"Man, can't believe Tails has all these" Silver said looking through his large collection.

"Probably stockpiled em so if he ever got bored he had variety" Fiona said sitting on the floor.

"But damn does he have a lot" Silver chuckled.

"Could you choose something eventually?" the green hedgehog whined, the last movie ended awhile ago and Silver still hadn't chosen anything.

"Sorry" he apologized getting back to looking.

Fiona just rolled her eyes at the rude moebian and looked to the silver hedgehog and remembered something "Hey Silver, you were talking more after we met Blaze?"

"Huh? Oh, so what?"

"Usually you let Shadow talk but not only were you the one who wanted Blaze out of her cell quickly but you also seemed to… talk a bit more about what you did back at your town… like… bragging" she smirked.

Silver shook his head "If you're insinuating something just say it" he continued to look away as he went through the selection.

"You like her?"

This caught Scourges attention his eyes lazily looking to the younger hedgehog for his answer.

"Even if that was true, is that your business?" he tried to avoid the question.

Fiona was gonna continue playing it cool but Scourge just laughed "Yup, definitely"

Silver turned "Ok so what does it matter if I like her, tell me that. Is there something wrong with liking someone now?"

Fiona just face palmed, he was terrible at this.

"So are you denying it or not?" Scourge smirked.

Silver froze realizing what he said and growled feeling stupid.

"Aww that's cute, I'm sure a woman of her stature will like a pothead" Scourge taunted.

"Hey I told you to stop calling me that" Silver whined.

"And I said 'make me' but I've yet to receive your reply, so until then, you're pothead" he laughed.

Silver rolled his eyes with a groan and turned to continue looking through movies but Scourge said "And I've yet to get an answer about your little crush too" Silver just growled lightly but decided not to say anymore and dig a deeper hole for himself.

The trio finally got a movie going and sat back and enjoyed.

Shadow came in half an hour into the movie and saw the trio watching. He quietly walked behind them and went to the bar in the corner of the room and looked through it.

Finding something he liked he popped it open and quickly heard Scourge yell "Bring me a glass!"

Shadow rolled his eyes and poured some before walking over. He handed over a glass and leaned against the wall behind Silver watching along with them all.

Scourge went to drink "Hey what the hell this thing is empty!"

Shadow smirked "You said bring you a glass"

The green hedgehog eyed him angrily but eventually got up and poured one for himself. He half expected someone to steal his seat but when he came back he was pleasantly surprised to find it still empty.

Continueing on the four finished that movie as well. Silver, Scourge and Shadow stayed for another but Fiona wanted to stretch a bit and check on Tails, see if he needed any help with anything.

Unfortunately he wasn't in the workshop or the control room. She was about look somewhere else when Rosemary asked "Trying to find Miles?"

"Ya, know where he is?"

"He left for a walk a few hours ago, it wouldn't be too much to ask if you went to look for him?" she asked worry in the Ai's voice.

"A few hours?" she sighed annoyed, things were going fine and he had to go missing "Ya I'll go find the little tike, which way did he go?"

Rosemary explained showing the sensors readings on the largest screen "He was walking around the edge of the perimeter but stayed in the area, then suddenly he left and now I have no idea where he is" for half a second she sounded like she was going hysterical.

"Don't worry I'll be back in a flash" she left and got all her equipment and headed out to the wasteland. She specifically remembered to bring a communicator if she needed to call for help.

The feeling of dread hit her senses as she left the elevator like always. One of the cruel reminders of what she was fighting for.

Fiona went in the direction he'd last been and was soon there and called Rosemary, ok, I'm here, no sign of him"

"Please continue searching" she heard her plead.

"Don't worry Mrs Prower, I'll have him back" she wondered why she called her that, over time she sometimes forgot she was even a computer.

Venturing forward the fox looked for any sign of her teammate and continued on with no sign of him for over half an hour.

"Dammit, where is he?" she growled.

She shook her head and turned to head back thinking he might be back now but a sudden glare blinded her.

"Gah, stupid sun!" in a fraction of a second she realized that the sun was coming from her right "…Wait"

"LOOK OUT!"

Something smashed into her side causing her to fall to her side and into a small ditch, immediately after being hit the crack of a high powered rifle pierced her ears. She hit the ground with a thud and dust kicked up. She nursed her arm which took the fall gritting her teeth.

"You alright?"

Her head jerked to see the man she'd been looking for. Tails was just crawling off her as the pieces made sense. He must have tackled her and they ended up here.

"What happened?" she groaned getting to her feet.

"Stay down" he pounced her again pushing on her chest to keep her down and stayed low as well, they ended up awkwardly close but he looked to the right checking on something before crawling off her again.

"What's going on?" she asked again rolling over on her stomach and going into a crawling stance like he did.

"You nearly got your head blown into chunks, that's what happened" he explained peaking over the low incline from the ditch.

"Wait there's a sniper out there!?" she asked keeping her head down for sure now.

He peaked over and ducked back down a bullet whizzing by half a second later kicking up dirt, the sound of the shot piecing the air again.

"Ya, it's a new kind of eggbot I've never seen before. Looks less clunky, agile and fast, not sure yet but it may have minor stealth" he explained all he knew for now.

"Why didn't you call for help?"

"It's got some sort of area of effect scrambler, as long as I'm near it I couldn't call for help" he was breathing heavy.

"How long have you been hiding from it?" she asked knowing he'd been off radar for nearly an hour.

"Almost an hour ago I heard someone calling for help while I was out walking, I went to investigate, turns out it was a trap made by this… predator" He growled and Fiona smelt something metallic then noticed something strange. On her tank top was a drop of blood, she hadn't been shot. She noticed a drop come from Tails and gasped.

"It got you!?"

"Barely, got me in the side as I dove for cover. Performed some quick first aid" he lifted his shirt to reveal he'd wrapped a cloth around himself to stop the bleeding but it was soaking through.

"Where'd you get the wrapping?"

"This shirt used to have sleeves" he answered.

He continued "I've ben dueling it for nearly an hour now, occasionally it will move and flank me, so far I've been fast enough and lucky enough to avoid further injury" He looked exhausted and somewhat pail, the wound and hour long combat was taking it's toll and had she not shown any sooner he might have been too tired to continue.

"What are we gonna do?" she really hoped he had a plan.

"Well I was never able to get away from it because it's too agile, I tried to shoot it with my pistol but it kept it's distance and stayed fast. I'm out of ammo now. But it's a single bot and has only a sniper rifle from what I can tell. It can't shoot two of us at the same time. One of us needs to get away from it and call for help, Scourge or Shadow could keep up with it and destroy it easy"

Fiona nodded "Ok so what do you want me to do"

He thought, trying to figure out the most effective way to implement his plan "Alright, luckily for me I know the landscape, after being tricked I knew of this area and risked my tails to get here instead of the open terrain where I started. It's filled with rolling hills or ditches and some rocks. We both head in different directions using the cover. We time it right and he won't be able to aim at both of us long enough to make reliable shots. As soon as one of us escapes his jamming zone we call for help…. And hope the other isn't dead, then wait for Scourge and Shadow"

"I got all my equipment, anything in there we can use?" she wanted to get this going, as Tails said it moved sometimes and at any moment it could go and catch them off guard.

"It's too far away to throw your EMP grenades, but give me a few just incase" she quickly handed over half. Since she carried four that left them both with two.

"Ok, ready?"

"Wait!" she suddenly said.

"What?" he wanted to start this as much as she did.

"Take this" she pulled out one of her pistols and handed it to him "It's nothing compared to your stuff but it has ammo"

He nodded in thanks, "You had that way I'll head this way" he pointed his thumb backwards.

"Alright good luck, and watch the wound" Fiona said turning to a spot she could jump out and move from.

He did the same and took a deep breath and tried to ignore the pain he was feeling. This thing wasn't gonna outsmart him.

Both foxes waited for the moment to move, both of them knew the best opportunity to move the first time would be when it moved. Both their sets of big ears waiting for any sound out there.

Tails' eyes snapped open hearing the slight sound of metallic joints moving and said "Now" both hopped out of the ditch and quickly scanned for new cover, both found some and dashed their way over. Tails having an advantage due to his namesake. So he understandably travelled further.

Both slid to their cover. Tails slid behind a rock while Fiona slid into a new ditch, both hearing a shot fire. This one meant to take out the male fox but ricocheted of his rock.

He took a deep breath to stay awake, the wound effecting his head and making everything fuzzy. All he had to do was breath, he'd be fine.

Both foxes waited again for it to move but it never came.

"Great, adaptive learning, it's not gonna mess up like that again" he groaned to himself.

He hummed and tried to think. Something to distract it from the two. Anything to allow them to inch forward. It was quite a bit away from them, and it's scrambler couldn't be that big if his mom hadn't picked up anything from it. Since they weren't too far from his land he suspected the signal was extra localized. To keep it's prey in the dark but not tip off anyone nearby. Which meant they were so close to escaping it's range.

Devising a plan he took a breath and truly hoped this would work. Technically it would mean he'd have to trick Fiona but it had to be done.

Reaching into his pocket he pulled out the EMP grenade and suddenly yelled "NOW!"

He tossed the small device out from his cover then looked back to see if Fiona would be ok. The device still in the air was shot by the sniper, his ruze worked , but was Fiona fast enough.

He looked out and saw the female fox hide behind her own rock safe for the time being. He sighed and started trying to catch her attention.

Within a minute her curiosity to see if Tails was ok over came her so she looked and saw him and tried to make sense of what he was miming.

Quickly interpreting his throwing motion she guessed he wanted her to throw something. Only a few things were on her but she figured the small grenade would be good.

He then counted with his fingers from three to one. When he reached one she tossed the grenade behind her as Tails yelled "NOW!"

She stayed put hearing a gun shot take out her own item. She saw Tails dive into his own ditch.

They realized if they tried to do that exactly as before it would predict them this time so a new plan had to be made. Tails thought of one, one that he could dictate without having to do motions to Fiona, it was too dangerous to direct is instructions to her or else he'd have to expose himself.

This time when signaling her he tossed his second grenade up as he yelled now. His prediction was right, the grenade almost hit the floor before it was taken out, the bot was heard the signal but saw something else move away from its crosshairs and moved to shoot it which made it lose time. While it took out the grenade Fiona was simply following orders and dashed out to a new spot diving behind yet another rock, she wanted to be able to see anything Tails ordered. A shot rang by her as she dove for safety.

Tails needed to be able to communicate with her the next time and after hearing his grenade taken out he also jumped out of his ditch and dove for another rock. He hoped the distance they had created from one another would mean it would take more time for the bot to swivel left and right to make its shots. He was correct and made it behind the rock and heard the shot half a second slower than normal.

This had to be it, either they escaped the zone or it was forced to move to try and take out one of them, the distance it had to keep checking left and right was becoming too great.

Tails looked out and found Fiona ok and did some motions that he hoped would say "When I signal you, don't run" he hoped not running would confuse it again.

She nodded and he waited a second before yelling "NOW"

A shot rang one foot from his position in the direction he would have gone and smirked "Getting jumpy now jackass" he chuckled, it was trying to predict them now and get lucky but failed.

Now he looked to Fiona and motioned again, this time they'd both throw an object when he signaled but also wait a second after he signaled to throw.

Once again she understood and pulled out her second grenade, the last between the two of them. Tails pulled out the knife he kept in his boot. The last thing he had besides Fionas pistol.

"Now!"

Both paused for one second hearing a shot ring out again, they threw their objects and ran out for cover again.

Two shots rang out, BANG…. BANG… "AH"

Tails slid behind another rock and heard a ping signaling he could use his communicator.

"Mom! Send Shadow and Scourge to this position, right now!" he didn't wait for a reply and ran out of cover having heard the cry, it wasn't from him so he knew who had made it.

Pistol ready he looked out and saw Fiona had actually made it to cover but had been shot in the foot somehow. If he had to guess she dove and was shot as she entered her cover.

Scanning fast again he finally got a look at the opponent he'd been facing for an hour.

The figure running to finish off its prey. He recognized the enemy.

"Nack" he growled, but he wasn't Nack anymore, he had clearly been robotized.

Robo-Nack ran with speed he never had in life quickly closing the gap between him and the female fox so Tails opened fire.

The shots forced the robot to stop and hide for cover. He popped up from the ditch he chose and with inorganic speed aimed and fired, his rapid actions deteriorated his aim allowing the two tailed fox to dive for his own cover.

"Just need to stall him a bit longer" he growled pulling out the mag to see how many shots he had left before punching it back in.

He jumped out of his cover noticing he did it the same time Robo-Nack had and opened fire forcing it to be unable to line up a shot safely without being hit itself.

But then Tails heard the all to familiar click and saw the pistol was out of ammo.

He gasped and looked forward and saw the biggest smirk on the robots face who waved goodbye and took aim. The glare of the lens signaling the end.

Then he heard a boom, not a gun shot, a boom… like something broke the sound barrier. The sound hurt his ears but he knew who it was, it made him remember his old friend doing the same thing so many times before, it felt nostalgic in a way. Sadly what was coming wasn't his old friend, but it was close enough and just as welcome.

In less than a fraction of a second a black and red flash sped past Nack and cut him clean in half sending the top half in the air slightly. A green flash came and jumped up at the airborne weasel and a loud bang went off as it passed shattering the weasel skull in tiny metallic pieces. Both parts hit the ground and Tails sighed relieved it was over.

He fell to a kneeling position completely exhausted and light headed from his wound and waited for the two to come back.

Just like that Shadow and Scourge stopped in front of him sliding to a stop. Scourge carrying a shotgun, must have been what he used to blow Robo-Nack's head away.

"You alright?" Shadow asked helping him to his feet and helping him stand.

"Get Fiona, she got shot too" he pointed to her position and Scourge ran over to go get her.

He came back with the fox. She stood on one foot next to Scourge using him to take some of the weight and an arm around the back of his neck as support.

"Tails, you alright?" she asked, he looked ever worse now, pail and shaking.

"Once we get back mom can patch us up, come on" he looked to Shadow who picked him up hefting him over his shoulder and burst forward for the base. Scourge followed.

Rosemary let them in remotely and soon Tails and Fiona were in the medical room getting patched up by robot arms.

"Tails what happened? You shouldn't have gone out alone or without your equipment!"

He tried to ignore her but said "I know" he felt pretty stupid in hindsight.

The cloth he used was replaced by actual gauze but before all that he had rubbing alcohol applied to the wound and had the wound sewn back up. The gauze finally on he now felt the pain again and whimpered a little.

Fiona got the same, alcohol, closing the wound and her foot wrapped in gauze. She was also given crutches to relieve herself of walking on her foot.

"Don't you ever do that again Miles, you had me so scared" she chastised him, her voice had never been do hysterical and loud in the time they'd all been there.

Her voice actually made him look like a punished pup and said "I'm sorry mom"

"You better be, now thank Fiona for risking her life to save you"

He looked to the female fox and sighed "Thanks… I… wouldn't have gotten out of their had you not shown up"

She smiled with a nod and said "Well thanks for saving me twice. First from the first shot and at the end. Had you not stalled him I'd be dead"

"Luckily you gave me your other pistol" he smiled back and remembered to give it back.

She took it and sighed "You saw who it was right?"

"Ya… it was Nack" she frowned "I worked with his sister for a long time before I joined the Freedom fighters"

He nodded, seeing him made him realize a depressing truth. Eggman robotized Nack, it meant they could see some other old faces. Luckily for the both of them Nack was never a nice guy and taking out his robotic form wasn't too hard on either of them. Doesn't mean the next one they encountered would be as easy…

For now they had to heal, until that time the team was essentially grounded from a major operation.

He looked over the fox he suspected would become his new best friend since he'd be stuck here with her while everyone else did minor missions and cocked an eyebrow noticing something.

"Hey that first shot almost got ya" he pointed up at her ears. Mid way up her right ear on the right side was a half circle missing from the edge of her ear.

"Wow shit… too close" she gulped.

 **So that's 17, went a little differently then I wanted earlier. But I think it was nice to show a brutal reminder of what they could find out here.. Hope you guys liked it and I hope the small cameo of Nack was good. I also hope the fight was believable and tense and made sense.**

 **Let me know what you think so far and hopefully the next will be done soon. Oh and be on the look out around valentines for a one shot I made, it's currently finished I'm just waiting for the heart day to come. You guys may like it.**

 **Also that last part I kinda dropped it, now Fiona and Tils both have a half circle missing from the side of their ears.**

 **Extra points if you spotted a nice(but somewhat vague) reference to a movie in here**

 **Live long and prosper**

 **Admiralkirk**


	18. The side line

**A/N Chapter 18, awesome. Not much to say except to Shade of Naxx….. my brain exploded from all that punery. Lol**

" **Guess you have a "Nack for it"**

 **Also for anyone wanting to know what the reference was it was When Tails was explaining ho Robo Nack tricked him. It was from the movie Predators, the third movie of the predator series.**

 **Third, I have been feeling like this team could use one more person, but an OC of some kind. I can't put my finger on it but I feel there's a skill this team doesn't have yet. If anyone has any ideas I can build off it easily. But it's just it feels like one job is missing but I can't tell what. We have the tech heads from Tails and Nicole. The power from Shadow, Blaze and Silver, the speed from Shadow and Scourge. Agility/ which can confer to sneaking around) from Fiona and ruthlessness from Shadow, Tails and Scourge. If I missed one you think deserved to be mentioned among these people or skills I missed let me know on that too.**

 **Ok back to the story.**

Like Tails expected his mom wasn't letting him leave the base until he was fully healed.

Since he couldn't leave he had Shadow go out and grab what he could from Robo-Nack, most importantly he wanted the sniper rifle. He'd have asked for Shadow to see if he could salvage the memory core but Scourge had quite literally blown its head away.

He spent the most time working on finishing Nicole's projectors, it was pretty easy like he suspected and he was done the projectors in a few days. Some of those days he was forced to rest.

With the projectors ready he went about wiring the base up to make them all connected so when she walked into another room it would project her in an almost seamless transition.

The wiring and set up took longer, it required tearing out the walls. Because his injury made hard labor difficult he got Silver to help using his powers to lift away the walls with ease.

With all that done all he needed to do was set up the projectors to the walls and ceilings. He did the measurements and tried to set up every room so she'd be able to walk anywhere without anything blocking a projector. Some rooms required two or three. Luckily he made plenty. Finally with it all done he went for the test.

"Alright Nicole, all you need to do is plug yourself into this socket" he pointed to a new socket he had added to the control room "You'll connect to the system and you can project yourself anywhere. Like I said before it will only be a simple hologram unlike your PDA, so if you need to physically do something you'll have to use your PDA projector"

She nodded and took the cord he offered and placed her handheld into the desk and connected it and instantly felt the new connection.

Her form disintegrated and she appeared again in the main hall. Looking herself over she noticed nothing missing and smiled "Thank you Tails"

"No problem, it was a nice side project" he rubbed his sore wound afterwards.

While Tails worked on the projector system Nicole worked on making hacking easier for the team. She was able to make smaller versions of herself to be put in Tails hacking devices, their sole programing was to make simple hack jobs. Essentially it would allow anyone to just plug into minor systems and her smaller selves would do the work. Meaning while Tails was incapacitated from field ops people could steal info from bot like he had before.

Unlike Tails, Fiona had it harder, with a healing foot she had to crutch her way around the base . Much to Scourge's delight, cause now he could mess with her.

At one point he stole a crutch leaving her near helpless, shortly afterwards Shadow smacked him upside the head and gave it back to the fox.

As Tails predicted blips showed up all over his territory in time. Which meant something had to be done. In a short amount of time Tails devised a plan to possibly loosen the pressure all these patrols were making. He was still recovering so wasn't going to be apart of it so he tried to make it clear to everyone.

"Now we've got an infestation, and simply destroying them won't help. What we need to do is make Eggman think he miscalculated our position. What that means is we aren't gonna trick him into thinking we're miles away, but not exactly right here" he had been worried that any day now a drill bot would come and dig them out so they had to act fast.

"Alright smart guy, how the hell do we trick him into thinking that?" Scourge asked, something everyone else was wondering too.

Tails sighed "I was getting to that. Now the way I see it the only way we can do that is to let them see us"

"What how does that help us?" Silver asked worried about being shot.

"We need them to see us somewhere else, keep them on their toes. We'll show ourselves in various areas and make them think twice about our exact location. Make sense?" he looked around.

"So we show our faces somewhere that's not here and make them search in that area?" Silver asked wanting clarification, he got a nod so asked "What happens when they realize we aren't there?"

"Then we keep doing it until they either give up, doubtfully, or get wise and figure things out" it was the most solid plan the fox could think of, they couldn't abandon this place. He couldn't abandon this place.

"Then we better get to work quickly" Shadow said trying to get everyone moving.

Tails reminded everyone to take the new and improved hacking devices and be on the look out for opportunities to steal information.

As they started gearing up Nicole bid them good luck to which Scourge replied "Who needs luck when you're all skill"

"Well still, it is customary to bid such luck"

He just huffed and passed by "Don't worry, I'll make sure they don't get in and touch your buttons again"

Shadow groaned from the innuendo but Nicole was confused, it sounded obvious yet not obvious. They had messed with her before but for some reason she had feeling 'buttons' was being used as a double meaning.

With the four leaving, that left Fiona to sigh. She wanted to be out there helping but her damn foot just wouldn't let her. Luckily from what Rosemary said the shot miraculously did little actual damage so she just needed to heal the flesh wound.

It meant she'd be up and ready to go soon but until then she was more useless than dirt, taking up resources and not even being an able body. She felt guilty for taking up resources when she gave nothing back and had voiced it once or twice to Tails who had told her not to worry about it. He argued that it was like an investment, she would heal and become useful again.

She decided to just read, it was mostly all she could do. She didn't know what Tails would be up to during this time but getting lost in fantasy was always a way to get away for her. Too bad she had to pick a book that ended up paralleling her own life pretty hard. All it did was remind her of her past actions.

The female had been with a group of friends but ended up humiliating one of the boys of the group to become a popular girl. Only to be later humiliated herself a few years later by the very same girls. She had no friends by the end and hated by all.

She tossed the book not wanting to read more and forced herself to her feet and grabbed her crutches.

"Are my books seriously that bad?"

She looked to the door and saw Tails leaning against the frame.

"You could say that" she murmured.

Tails just chuckled "Ya well, that story kinda sucks anyway, a nice ending though"

She eyed him, what'd he mean by that?

Instead she changed subject "So what you up to?"

"Nothing much, your foot ok?"

She shrugged "Feels fine, but I ain't standing on it so I don't know"

He nodded and asked "Want me to check it out?"

"You don't have to, Rosemary does that for me" although the sentiment made her smile.

"Fine suit yourself" he shrugged.

Both were quiet for a moment…

"Any projects you planning on?" Fiona asked.

""I got one in progress" he said vaguely.

"Mind if I ask what it is?"

"Of course not, but I won't say much" he smirked smartly.

She rolled her eyes "Ok so what can you say?"

"That it's something I've been meaning to get to for awhile"

"Alright then?" she said confused.

"Anyway, I'm bored, and it looks like you are too. Might as well do something" Tails offered.

Fiona smiled, he seriously was trying. But she remembered her promise, she was going to try and leave after this was all over. Like she said before he didn't need her, all she did was hurt him.

But she was so bored and he was probably trying to pass the time as well so nodded "What you got in mind then?"

"You've been saying you want to help me with stuff, why not that?"

She looked at him like he was stupid "You realize my foot isn't healed in the five seconds we just talked about it?"

"I know, just come on" he said beckoning her to follow.

She sighed and hobbled after him and found him waiting near his workshop door. Continuing to follow he held the door for her and followed her inside.

Inside she could see it was the same as normal.

"So what are we doing?"

"Most of it will involve your hands so don't worry about having to walk"

"Ok, so what is it?" she asked again.

He walked to the back and revealed a tarp "I've been working on this, it's supposed to be a back up generator incase things break down. With that new core Silver and I found I know I can get it to work now"

"So then put it in" she shrugged.

"It's not designed for this kind of power core, meaning I got to gut it and rebuild the inner workings. I could use an assistant" He smiled hoping Fiona would accept.

"Fine, what you want me to do?" she hobbled closer.

"For now you can help by unscrewing stuff. We're pretty much gonna tear this thing apart" He tossed a wrench over to her which she caught .

He pulled out his own wrench and got to work hearing Fiona approach and begin helping. She was easily able to balance on one leg and found the screws easy to get rid of.

Halfway through taking it apart Fiona asked "So how you gonna change it?"

"I'll have to rewire it because most of the current wires are old. Either they can't handle the electricity that will be surging through this thing or are just broken. Then I'll have to build in a holder to put the core in, rebuild it. Possibly add some other stuff and finally hook it up and set it up to only be on if the power ends"

"Sounds like a lot of work" Fiona said grunting as she turned a rusted bolt out "But knowing you it's probably easier than I'm expecting"

"Ya, it's not that hard but then again, I got other stuff to do" He explained also starting to work on more rusted parts.

A few more bolts and Tails grunted finding one that refused to move.

"Come on" he grunted.

A struggled for a bit until Fiona hopped over and said "Here, I'll help?" both got ready and using their combined force until a loud snap signaled the screw broke free. Since they both used all their weight the wrench dropped and both fell.

Tails tried to steady himself but Fiona had no chance because of her hurt foot and fell on him and took him with her. They ended up in an x formation with Tails on his back and Fiona on her stomach.

"Dammit" she groaned her foot pulsing with every heartbeat.

As she rolled off Tails who wiped himself off and asked "You alright?"

"Are you ok, I hope I didn't crush you" she replied then hissed feeling her foot pulse again.

"I'm fine" he somewhat lied, her landing on him made his own healing wound sting.

"Well… we got it" the female grabbed the heavily rusted bolt and showed it to him.

"Ya, guess we did" he chuckled getting to his feet.

He helped her up as well and unknown to the female he found the contact surprisingly nice.

She put a hand on his shoulder to balance herself momentarily then nodded in thanks and got back to work.

He did the same and soon the generator was mostly in pieces. Tails rummaged through the stuff while Fiona took a seat to rest her leg "So how's it look?"

"Like shit, I've been holding onto this thing for a few months and I found it in some rubble. So this thing is most likely very run down. Still pretty easy if you ask me"

Fiona shook her head at his cockiness "You always were too good at this stuff"

He smirked "Yup, great with my hands and mind, sucked at girls though" he didn't mean specifically her.

She figured that out and asked "Any other girlfriends?"

"Well I hung out with Cream for awhile but that didn't last, I also kinda crushed on Li Moon a bit too. Pretty sure Barby liked me too but…. She was just a friend"

"Wow such a lady-killer" Fiona chuckled.

"Tails laughed "Should have seen the mail we got when Mobotropolis was set up again. Everyone kept sending mail telling me I was cute, date invites and all that stuff"

"Really? That sounds a little creepy" she cringed a bit.

"Made me blush a lot back then, that was shortly before I started to get stronger and more distant" he ripped out some wires that were seriously damaged.

She frowned but said "Admit it you liked all those girls calling you cute?"

"Maybe" he smirked.

Fiona smiled a little as he continued to rip the thing apart, removing tons of wires to replace for later. He then proceeded to take out other stuff like circuit breakers. Most were broken or couldn't handle the current that would be going through it when he was done.

"I got plenty of this stuff, it's easy to scavenge parts like this. I'm still trying to find places for the stuff I got in the first month" Tails explained.

"You have that much?"

"Yup…. Stepped into some gruesome scenes for it though" his voice grew somber remembering all the dead he'd seen that first month. Already a broken soul and he had to look at that.

"While I was looking for a safe place after my first encounter I saw several cities under attack, I could hear screams even across such a great distance" she explained.

"We'll get him, and make him scream" Tails growled fist clenched.

"I know we will, you'll figure things out" her gaze hardened agreeing with him feeling anger as well.

He stopped his fist continually clenched clearly thinking about all that he saw and soon Fiona found herself just behind him and a hand on his shoulder "Tails you ok?"

"How could this have happened?" he suddenly asked "How could things suddenly go so bad? The world was fine, it was alive… it was recovering. We finally stopped all the bullshit attacking Mobotropolis, the council was finally not under corruption. Everything was perfect…. And now, it's all gone, everything we worked for… everything just gone within a month" Tears escaped his eyes.

She had no answer, there was no way to answer that, things had gotten better, everyone was happy. Atleast that's what she'd heard considering she'd been with Scourge that entire time.

"Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I hadn't left… or if I had succeeded in killing Eggman, would we be here. Would the world be better or worse?" the younger fox revealed his regret to her. She wasn't sure if it was because of his grief or he was doing it on purpose but she squeezed his shoulder.

"That's all in the past… we can't think about that anymore" it was a bit of a reminder to herself as well.

"I was just a stupid kid…. I let what happen get to me… ruin me and now my friends are all dead and the world is destroyed with Eggman in charge. I could have made a plan…. Or we could have stopped him before but because I allowed what you said to destroy me we'll never know" oddly enough he hadn't blamed her, he now blamed himself. He seemed to now agree with what Fiona had said when he explained to her that he was what he was because of her. He definitely had thought about things.

"You can't beat yourself over it, you have to look forward. You are pretty much leading this team now. You set up this place and seem to be the only one with a plan. You are trying to fix it all. To make it right, and I'll be here this time. I promise" she instantly regretted saying it like that.

He looked to her tears of regret still dripping from his eyes and took a deep breath "You will?"

"Besides the fact that I got nowhere else to go at this point I want revenge too….. and I don't think abandoning you again will help you either"

"No it wouldn't" he admitted.

"Well I'm not leaving until it's all over… either we die or we succeed… then I don't know" she hoped this would tell him to not get used to her, and hoped that telling him ahead or time would prepare him for it.

"So you're just gonna leave again? You aren't gonna stay. People will need us to keep the peace when it's all over"

"You've got everyone else to do that"

"Blaze and Scourge will leave" Tails said.

"You'll still have Shadow, Silver and Nicole" Fiona reminded.

He scoffed "Maybe Silver, but I think Shadow will go and start travelling again, and I hate to say it but Nicole isn't much of a field operator even with her solid hologram form"

He was right, Silver might leave with Shadow when it was all over or simply go looking for the people he used to live with. That did leave her left as his only real ally. Now she felt really bad, she'd be leaving him relatively alone again, atleast he'd have Nicole.

"What if I told you I'll think about it?"

"Then think about it, just make sure you make the right choice this time" he went back to working signaling he was done with this conversation. He shrugged her hand off his shoulder clearly disappointed and stayed quiet.

The cold shoulder made her frown but now she was seriously considering if her previous promise was right now. Would it be right to leave him alone to protect the people if they got through all this?

Of course it wouldn't, but was it right for her to be around him, she hurt him. That's all she was worried about, hurting him again.

He stayed silent clearly not liking that she couldn't make up her mind and only spoke to give her instructions, it was really uncomfortable but she had to live with it now. She was frightened that all the progress they just made in being on good terms just went down the tubes because of what she said.

She thought maybe talking business would get him to speak again and asked "So, what are our plans ahead of us anyway?"

"I have Rosemary talking to Nicole occasionally hoping she'll remember some key information…. If not we might have to resort to reading bot minds again. Either way I'm hoping for something in particular"

"And that is?"

"I'm hoping we get a lead on a way to get his systems structure or codes. It will make hacking his systems with Nicole far easier"

"Good idea' she complimented.

"Thanks," he took it and said "If you want to rest you can"

"Is this one of those "You can but you actually should" kind of suggestions.

"A little of both" he grunted.

"You're starting to sound like your mother" she joked.

He managed a chuckle "Ya, guess I do"

She eventually joined again and after ripping something out a little too hard she scratched her hand off the old metal and hissed "Accident prone, great" she groaned.

It was a surprisingly bad cut and quickly started dripping so Tails grabbed a cloth and wrapped it around her hand "Doesn't hurt, right?"

She sighed and said "Don't need to worry over me"

"We're teammates, it's our job to look out for one another" he said surprisingly softly. His hands were gentle and both foxes stayed there kneeling in front of one another for a second.

Both realized they had both frozen and Fiona took back her hand and the cloth and Tails awkwardly let go and looked away. He got back to work and said "I got some rubbing alcohol in a draw, you want that?"

"Ya, that'd be nice" she lifted away the cloth briefly seeing the blood had gotten on her fur pretty badly she sighed hating blood in her fur.

He hopped up and grabbed the supplies in a cupboard and walked back and kneeled down next to her again "Let me see it" he said wetting another cloth with the alcohol.

She sighed and revealed the wound and grit her teeth knowing it would hurt. The two tailed fox applied the alcohol rubbing the cloth along the wound and had to forcefully keep her hand in place when she tried to pull it away.

When she wasn't trying to pull it away he was gentle like before.

His kindness made her finally say "Thank you" she still believed he didn't have to baby her like this but it was still nice of him and he deserved a thanks. Hell, he deserved more than just a thanks for getting over all his anger.

"Why do you want me to stay after all this is done?" she suddenly asked.

He looked up at her still cleaning her hand and said "Like I said, I need the help"

"No, that's not what I mean" she sternly replied.

He sighed and asked "Than what do you mean?"

"You aren't afraid I'll screw you over again?"

He stopped his cleaning and looked directly at her and asked "Are you?"

The question made her freeze, he had complete faith in her, after everything he trusted her…. But did she trust herself?

Before anything could be said they heard a knock on the door and Tails sighed lightly getting up to see who it was.

Fiona kept nursing her wound and got to her feet.

The male fox opened the door and found the team was back and unharmed.

"Everything work out?"

Shadow nodded "Nobody saw us come back this way"

"Ya and we gutted a few robots on the side " Scourge gloated.

"Yes, speaking of that we have some stuff for you" Shadow handed over some usbs from the hacking devices.

"Excellent, I'll get mom to decrypt them as soon as possible. Good job" he pocketed the sticks "Just remember we'll have to keep doing this distraction stuff to keep them on their toes"

They all nodded and let him be.

He looked back and saw Fiona was behind him getting ready to leave, her hand wrapped in a cloth and said "Thanks for helping me pass the time, I'll leave you alone now"

He just quietly opened the door for her and watched her walk out and sighed.

"Almost"

 **So that was fun, I've been meaning to get Fiona and Tails to talk alone for a bit and found a nice opportunity for it here. Glad that's over. And yet I still fit in a way to continue the story plot.**

 **Anyway not much to say so live long and prosper… oh wait ya that's right, lots of work up ahead so I might have slightly slower updates.**

 **Admiralkirk**


	19. Talking it out

**A/N Hello peoples, having fun reading this? I hope so I'm enjoying writing this.**

 **As a side note in the last chapter Fiona joked that Tails is a lady killer. That was something my brother and I kinda came to a conclusion of recently. Next to Sonic Tails seems to have the most girlfriends through out the shows and comics and games. I mean if you look it over, he's liked Fiona, Barby liked him possibly, he had a crush on Li Moon. All in the original comics. So far he's had no romance in the newer ones cause he's 8 again though. In Sonic x they started him and Cream then abandoned it for Cosmo later. And finally in Sonic Boom(Yes I know why am I brining this up) he might actually be dating Zoey currently and in another episode he seemed to attract another woman, I forgot her name though. So yes, I believe he's a lady killer.**

 **Also I feel like I keep brining up past events like I'm trying to prove I know what I'm talking about. Cause when I started I mentioned I knew near nothing about the comics and that I had to learn more…. I think I'm subconsciously mentioning events and stuff to let you guys know I am learning.**

 **Anyway on with the show!**

Time continued on and Tails had his mom decrypt the memories the team got on their missions. Most were useless, some gave minor information. To his surprise the most recent batch held something interesting.

"Tails, honey?"

"Yes ma?" he asked typing away.

"I think I may have found something?"

The fox looked up at the screen "What is it?"

"I don't know, it's an incomplete data file" Rosemary said puzzled.

Tails hummed in thought "Ok, any idea what it's for?"

"I can't tell at this time, but there's one other thing, among the fragmented data is frequencies"

"Frequencies to what? Are they complete?" He asked interested now.

Rosemary explained "I think so, if what I'm getting is correct these frequencies should lead us to several other eggbots who will have the other parts of these files"

Tails smiled "Good, see if you give me locations, work on that alright?" he knew it would be slow considering how little they had but given time his mom could figure out where they were.

"Of course"

Elsewhere…

In the rec room Silver was sitting across from Blaze, both staring at a chessboard.

Blaze moved her knight and smirked "Checkmate"

"Dang it" Silver sat back in defeat "Third time in a row" he crossed his arms in annoyance.

Blaze just smirked proudly "Perhaps you will get me one day"

"Maybe" he shrugged finding her way of saying it a little ironic.

A short delay took place before Blaze asked "So I've been wondering, when did you learn you had powers?"

"Why do you want to know that?" he asked raising an eyebrow at her question.

"Well be cause it took me awhile to learn I had powers, just wanted to know if you discovered them late or early or something" Blaze explained.

Silver thought and said "Well… I think I've known since as far as I can remember"

Blaze looked puzzled "What do you mean by that?"

"Well back at the orphanage I lived at the caretakers knew I'd have powers, so they told me when I was young and advised I keep it under wraps for a bit" he expected the follow up question she'd surely ask.

"How did they know?"

"When I was dropped at the orphanages door when I was two the only thing on me was a note" he reached down into his boot and slipped out a piece of paper "This one to be exact"

She looked at the paper and waited for him to explain further.

"On it explained why I couldn't be taken care of. My mom died during childbirth and my father said he couldn't take care of me. He also wanted me to grow up in a safer place than where he was. He said that if he had any other choice he'd have kept me but it just wasn't possible. He also wanted to let me know that he and my mom loved me more than anything and wanted me to keep this letter. Finally it explains that I will have powers and that my name is Silver" he put the letter away finishing his depressing story.

Blaze looked to him frowning "I'm sorry, it must be hard knowing he loved you so much that he wanted you to be safe"

Silver frowned as well and nodded "The one question I have is how'd he know for certain I'd have powers"

Blaze just hummed in thought but Silver took the opportunity to learn about her.

"So what was home like for you?"

She debated whether speaking to him about it was ok but shrugged and said "Well I originate from the Sol universe as it's called. I am the guardian of the Sol emeralds and the princess of my realm"

He nodded waiting for more details.

"My world ironically is more water than land" he laughed at that.

"I have a friend named Marine back there, she's one of the few people I actually trust enough to see regularly. She is a young raccoon and very energetic. I employ her a lot to get me around my world. She's one of my closest friends" she frowned missing her.

"I'm sure she misses you too" Silver smiled.

"I hope so"

"So what's the difference between the chaos emeralds and the sol emeralds anyway?" Silver asked.

"Well instead of chaos energy the sol emeralds have rule over fire. I am partially connected to them allowing me to use pyrokinesis. It functions a lot like your powers except with fire. I can use the sol emeralds much like your chaos emeralds. They can increase my powers and when together they give me a super form like Shadow and Sonic. Except instead of gold, I'm pretty much on fire" she explained.

"Well, wouldn't want to mess with a pissed off, invulnerable fire cat" he chuckled.

"No you wouldn't" Blaze smirked.

Silver tried to think of something else to talk about as they reset the board.

"So did you have any hobbies when you weren't being the sol emerald guardian?"

Blaze smiled thinking back and said "I actually enjoy knitting a bit, not often but it helped me relax"

"Why knitting?" the white hedgehog asked.

"Well I always liked yarn, but that's kinda obvious considering I'm a cat, plus it was one of the few times I could create something instead of burn someone to death" she explained smiling, yet saddened she couldn't do that.

"Ya, sometimes I wonder what I could do with my powers in a normal life"

"You could lift tons of heavy stuff, I'm sure construction crews would love you, or help with rescue efforts during disasters" naming off just a few.

"Ya? You think so?"

"Yes I do"

"Thanks, means a lot"

He suddenly asked "So what was Shadow like before this whole mess?"

"Not too different to be honest, he was always a 'get the job done' kind of guy. He was also very quiet and secluded from people and only spoke when he felt he had to. With the help of Amy, she and I broke him one time though" the cat smiled remembering how hard they tried to convince him, seeing him with that guilty face was all worth it.

"How, doing what?" Silver asked interested.

"Shadow was sent by GUN to steal one of my sol emeralds, he brought his old friends Rouge and Omega with him for the mission. Things didn't go quite right and someone had stolen one from me already and I teamed up with Amy and the rest of team Rose to get it back. We sort of raced and worked together with team dark, his team, and soon after some events he ended up with the emerald" The cat explained going back to better times.

"The entire time Amy and I had been talking to him trying to convince him that not only was it wrong to steal the emerald from me but that I could protect it…. Guess I was wrong in the long run" she frowned but continued "When it was all over he handed the emerald over to me, Rouge wasn't too happy about that, Omega?... I think he saw both sides and had no opinion"

"He's a tough nut to crack and I think he likes me, you know as a friend and stuff. But he's hard to read a lot of the time so maybe I'm just another guy to him" Silver shrugged, he didn't feel special or privileged, he never had that feeling, infact after talking to Shadow so long he grew the idea that maybe being a hero wasn't all it was cracked up to be. He once said to him that all heroes sacrifice at some point and that he'd yet to truly sacrifice yet.

"He does like you, it's why he kept you around. He's your teacher and a friend, as much as he doesn't show it" Blaze smiled hoping that'd make him smile.

Silver did and they got back to their game.

Elsewhere…

Scourge had figured out how to use the game console Tails had behind the tv and was playing something alone. He preferred that, nobody trusted him and he was forced to trust them for his own safety. No point getting to know them or even liking them if that was the case.

Although one of the team was a little curious of Scourge and watched him for awhile before walking over.

"What?" the green hedgehog didn't look over but could tell someone was next to him.

"I was wondering what you are up to" the soft polite voice gave away that it was Nicole.

"Playing games" he hoped that would make her go away.

"What, may I ask?"

"You got digital eyes, use em" the irritation in his voice as he realized she wouldn't leave.

He was playing some kind of third person shooter that took place in Mobotropolis, he was currently hiding from authorities in an early part of the story.

Nicole wasn't surprised by his choice, it felt kinda obvious he'd choose such an infamous game, of killing, stealing, and grand theft.

"So you gonna leave?' she had stood there for another minute quietly watching.

"If you want me to, but wouldn't you rather have company?"

"Nope" was his simple answer.

"Do you not enjoy people around you?" she asked.

Scourge paused and rolled his eyes and finally looked to her "Listen holo chick, what makes you think I like any of you. I'm here because I have nowhere else to go, no home to go back to, no ring to send me back to Moebius and surrounded by people who either don't like me or know I'm a bad guy. So no I don't care for my current company"

Nicole paused; she never flinched nor showed any worry for his anger. He couldn't hurt her if he wanted to as she was using the projectors.

"Have you considered the idea that spending time with them will change their views of you and maybe gain trust of them?"

"Nope cause that's stupid. Three of you I've spent time with and one of them is you. I left behind Fiona cause I panicked and I betrayed you and pipsqueak so why don't you leave me the hell alone" he snarled looking back to the tv intent on getting back to his game but Nicole continued.

Nicole shook her head and asked "Do you miss the trust we all had in you before Sonic revealed who you truly were?"

"What the hell does that have to do with anything?" Scourge sighed, he was incredibly annoyed now that she wouldn't leave him be.

"Because I believe you don't believe you can gain it back"

"Why would I want it back anyway?"

"You are apart of this team"

"Ya cause I have to" he growled again repeating himself.

"You are not being forced to do anything, you could have stayed in the cell after Blaze and I's rescue but you didn't. You stayed out of it" Nicole smiled knowing his reaction already.

"Ya cause I don't want to be locked up all day in some small ass room" he felt that was obvious.

"Yes but even you have common sense, you would have gone back in during the night, but you didn't. You took one of the cots"

"And your point to this is?" he growled.

Nicole smirked "You want our trust, you want to prove yourself. Had you gone back to your cell it would tell me you have no intention of helping us further but like I said you didn't. This leads me to believe you want to help, you want our trust, or at the very least you want Fionas trust again"

"Ok smart lady, if what you say is true why do I want you to leave me the fuck alone?" his tone getting louder near the end.

"Because you, like Shadow, you cast out the idea that you want to be alone or avoid attachment but in reality you scream out for it, you just have too much pride to do it"

"I've been compared to Sonic but I've NEVER been compared to Sonics other double" he laughed mockingly.

Nicole rolled her eyes at him and shrugged "Well needless to say after all I've learned I trust you'll make a good teammate and I trust you will make the right decisions"

He simply rolled his eyes with a 'pfff' sound and got back to playing games. Nicole smiled and quietly left him alone to think about what she said.

Elsewhere again…

Tails had left his mom to figure out those codes. He had pretty much healed up and was moving normally but he felt bad knowing Fiona was still down for now. So he decided to go see how she was doing.

He found her reading the very same book from before. Nearby was Shadow napping so he stayed quiet and walked over.

"How ya doing?"

She looked up "Oh, I'm fine, thanks. Any news?" she closed the book to pay attention.

"Found a bot with an incomplete file but has a full frequency on it. Mom thinks it will lead to the rest of the data and I have her scanning for an approximate location"

"Sounds good, hope it leads to something good" she smiled "Hopefully not too soon, I'd hate to miss it" she lifted her foot a little.

"I'm sure you'll be fine by then, the cast is off after all" he looked over, she had it taken off yesterday, she had a noticeable limp still but as long as she didn't put too much pressure on it, it would heal fine.

"Still hurts to walk a bit" she sighed.

Tails hadn't seen her foot since his mom had taken it off her foot in the morning in the med room.

"How'd it look when you got it off?"

She shrugged "Pretty normal, cleaned up the foot from the blood that dried on the fur and then painstakingly put my boot back on"

"I was gonna ask to see it but if it was that hard to put it on I won't" he smiled.

Fiona rolled her eyes "Tails you don't need to baby me and watch over my every move. I'm fine. Worry about yourself"

The male fox frowned "Why is it a crime now?"

Fiona growled "Remember what we talked about? All I'll do is hurt you?"

"Do you truly believe that, do you not trust yourself?" he asked his tone more serious now.

"Well… I…. Why do 'you' trust me, after I hurt you. I left you and everyone else for Scourge, what makes you believe in me now?" she needed to know this.

He was quiet and looked into her eyes and sighed "You came looking for me remember? You wanted this so much you went out for help"

"That's not what I mean Tails, why do you want me to stay if we make it out of this?"

He looked away sighing again "Fi…." She melted hearing her old nickname yet again.

"I trust you because I trust that you'll know what you've done and won't go that way again. I can see it, you want to help people. You're doing this not only for revenge, but vengeance, vengeance for everyone who died. I can see you want to make this all right just like I do, and walking away when we're done isn't gonna help anyone. Without rules from Eggman there will be people who will want to take advantage and we will be there to stop them…. Right?"

She looked away pleading for his blue eyes to just leave her alone, they melted through her. The hard stare he had when they met again in the waste was gone and she could finally see who he was truly was. The boy that had a crush on her and plead his heart out for her to stay. She hardly noticed he had crouched down next to the bed so he could be level with her as he spoke.

"Dammit Tails…. How can you pull off those eyes after all these years!?" she suddenly got angry trying to defend her choice, she wanted to leave him and keep him safe from her but he needed help and she might be the only one who could stay.

"Please Fi, if not for me, for the people. How about that?" his voice was soft again, she could see into his very soul through his sky blue eyes. The color so foreign to her, so used to grey. Seeing the bright shiny blue gems in front of her made her curse and finally give in.

"Fine…. I'll stay…. Keep the peace, alright you got what you want?" she tried to ask like she was being forced but he was right, she was here to save this planet and end Eggman once and for all and finally end his tyranny.

"I'm not forcing you to do anything Fi, it's your choice"

She looked away, she felt it really wasn't, but damn could he melt her defenses away. That's why she slapped him so long ago, he had been that close to making her come back and in a panic she hit him. It forced her to leave, there was no coming back after that.

She sighed and noticed he was still there and said "I promise that I'll stay if we make it through this"

He nodded and smiled "Ok… now heal up fast, gonna need you next mission"

Despite how conflicted she was, the idea of taking her frustration out on some eggbots and personally attack Eggman made her smirk "Wouldn't miss it for the world"

 **Ya so it's a little shorter than normal, but I wanted to get out a bit more stuff and set up how things were gonna get going again. So I apologize for two character chapters in a row to anyone who finds it annoying but I promise next chapter will get on the move. Thanks reading.**

 **One question to you guys, Tails isn't changing too quickly do you think?**

 **Can ya guess what Mobius-afide game Scourge was playing?**

 **Live long and prosper**

 **Admiralkirk**


	20. Split up

**A/N Ok so let's get back on track and take the fight to Eggman. I hope everyone wasn't too bored with the last two chapters but there were a few things I needed to get out there for later. So remember some of that stuff.**

 **Also I'm gonna do some shameless advertisement, check out my Tails and Nicole oneshot for valentines day, probably gonna have this done after that so check it out if you want. Definetly got longer than I expected.**

 **Also to anyone who guessed GTA(any of the numbers or subnames) for my game reference, here's an imaginary cookie.**

 **I apologize for how long this took, a lot of things started coming up(like things that took up my time and attention) I got mortal kombat x recently since it was basically 50% off on the xbox store, then got rocket league and I just remembered soon Division will be out… like two weeks I think… now three at the time I wrote this down. And like always I got work which because I'm part time at the moment my schedule is random and I could suddenly be given morning shifts when I normally do night(This kills me by the way) I also found this chapter just hard to write for some reason, the action was easy but the small talking I do in between was super weirdly hard. And lastly I'm half focusing my attention on the second one shot of the TailsxNicole thing I mentioned. So I got a lot of things taking my attention so I apologize. I know this sounds like just excuses but that what I got to say.**

 **Anyway let's go on a mission.**

It took another few days for Rosemary to get all the signals and finally with a beep she sighed.

"Miles, I have done it"

Tails just smirked and had her call everyone.

When everyone was assembled for briefing Tails explained.

"Ok guys so I let you all know a few days ago that I had mom tracking some signals. Well she finally found them" he revealed a map that showed the area around their base. Five dots were moving around.

"Ok so you found dots?" Scourge asked.

"They are eggbots that carry the rest of the data from an incomplete file mom found in one of the USB's one of you brought back. If we download their memories we'll be able to complete whatever file it is and maybe learn something nice" The male fox explained.

"So there's five, we'll split up and make this fast, we can handle them" Shadow suggested.

"That's what I was thinking, we'll split into four groups and if things go wrong we can work together" Tails explained.

"Ok so who do we get paired with?" Silver asked.

Tails thought and said "I'll go with Fiona, make sure her foot is ok" she'd been cleared by his mother for duty two days ago.

He continued "Shadow can handle himself so he can go alone, Silver and Blaze you work together and Scourge…"

"I will assist him" they looked to Nicole who smiled kindly.

"I was gonna say he can handle himself as well" Tails said confused.

"I know, but I feel someone should watch his back anyway"

"I don't need her slowing me down" Scourge huffed.

Nicole shook her head "Someone needs to watch him right?"

Scourge rolled his eyes, her trust conversation apparently meaning nothing.

"Ok? So everyone else good with their setup?" Tails asked around recovering from the interruption.

Shadow was ok with being alone, he always felt in small fights like this it made him more effective, nobody to have to worry about so he could go full force.

Silver was happy to be paired with Blaze because he wanted to see her in action and get a feel for how she acted in a fight to help predict her actions in the future. Among other things.

Scourge would have rather been alone but since Nicole insisted on watching him he walked to go grab her PDA.

Lastly Fiona was fine with pairing with Tails, he was clearly getting better around her. She was pretty sure he was completely ok with her now since he asked her to stay with him when it was all over. She knew he needed help and she'd give it.

Back to business and the team got ready. Fiona strapped up her boots and flexed her foot to make sure it was ok and nodded happy to find it in good shape.

Shadow was first done and studied the map before anyone else and went on his way. On the map a dot became shadows face signifying he was taking that one.

The others followed suit and soon everyone was in the move.

Moving out to the south the two foxes made their way to their target.

While walking they avoided a patrol or two, no worries. With Fiona's quiet footsteps and Tails' stealth they were near unnoticeable, as long as neither messed up.

Nearing their location they both got low and crawled up a small hill to see what was on the other side. Peaking over they spotted the target. Tails quickly identified the frequency thanks to a scanner in his helmet.

The bot had escort, nothing too crazy. Light and medium eggbots of varying types. The most dangerous being one that had a lot bombs ready to blow away any threat.

"Got a plan?" Fiona whispered.

"I'm thinking…" he rubbed his chin in thought, no way they could take down the group head on. Without powers they were be torn to shreds. A problem both foxes had figured out early, but that didn't mean they couldn't win with ease if they played it right.

The female patiently waited laying on her stomach and holding her head up with her hands and sighed bored. Eventually she just decided to blow up her bangs.

Tails finally smirked "Got it, how good of a shot are you?"

"You know I'm pretty good?" she waited for him to continue.

He slipped off his multi rifle and handed it over, find a good spot and wait for my command. I'm gonna make some trouble with my stealth, you shoot them down from afar. Just make sure not to hit the target"

She took his special weapon and froze "You sure you want me touching your stuff?"

"I told you, I trust you, and besides why are you complaining? I remember you wanted to try my stealth suit, maybe I'll let ya" he smirked liking the face she was giving.

"Well, ok… how do I make this thing not your normal explosive globs?" She fiddled around and suddenly Tails grabbed her hand and said "Stop, you're gonna shoot it and I don't need a super heated bomb in my face today…. Here, done" he flip a switch and the gun morphed from a more grenade launcher look to a long barrel sniper rifle. It morphed up a powerful scope and stand came out for hyper long range accuracy.

"Careful of the kick" Tails warned, his helmet dropped and stealthed.

Fiona took that as her cue to run for a better position as well and kept low, quiet and avoided kicking up too much dust. She quickly found a nice spot where she could see them all, had cover of a rolling hill and was a decent range from the area and turned on her radio.

"Ok Tails, got a spot, do your thing" looking through the eye piece she already saw a marker signifying the one bot was to be left functional. Besides that she could hear small metallic stepping sounds as they walked around. Apparently Tails had built in an audio receiver in it too. Taking a deep breath she got ready.

Like the wind she saw something kick up dust. Like a ghost he moved around the group choosing his moment carefully. One noticed him as he approached and quickly received a electro shock gauntlet that instantly deactivated. Every single bot turned to this but Tails kept his stealth up and darted away. The robots in complete confusion.

But a bad step gave him away as he kicked up dust and guns trained in his general direction. Fiona aimed and with a muffled shot another bots head exploded into pieces.

It's death diverted attention again, all turned to her direction, none immediately saw her but in a short time their sensors would see her. This fact was not lost on Tails.

He u-turned and tossed two emp grenades at the furthest bots from his target to keep it alive. Waiting for them to fire he used the second charge of his gloves to knock out another bot before retreating again.

Fiona covered him and the pattern continued until only the one bot was left.

Fiona aimed and shot it's firing arm off and got up to make her approach knowing Tails could handle it now.

The fox took over finally revealing himself and hopped on the robots back, his speed and force making it fall over. He quickly ripped the panel covering it's memory core off and inserted a cable inside.

The mini Nicole program began running and quickly syphoned all the information. With a ping and an image of her smiling with a thumbs up he pulled the cord out and punched inside destroying the eggbot.

"Not too hard" he smirked.

Right then Fiona made it too him and sighed glad to see he was ok and handed his weapon back to him which he gladly accepted.

"So we get it?"

"Of course" he smirked.

He put it back into his pocket and asked "So what'd ya think of the rifle?"

She shrugged "It's light, but powerful I guess"

"Could use that to describe me" he gloated lightening up on a rare occasion.

"Ya whatever lightweight, we better get moving and get to the final target to scout it out" she walked ahead trying to not laugh at his terrible flexing.

"And I thought I was the downer" he jogged to catch up and they went on their way.

With Blaze and Silver…

"Ok, so how do you wanna do this?" Silver asked.

"There's not that many, we could easily rush them or use our powers to pick them off quickly" Blaze suggested she was confident in both their abilities.

"You sure?"

She nodded and her hands lit up with fire as she prepared to attack. Silver got ready his hands glowing green.

The two revealed themselves and Blaze quickly fired off a few fireballs. Silver using his powers to hold her intended targets in place. Once the flames impacted the robots the ball exploded outwards. The fire was hot enough to warp the metal or burn the inside. The white hedgehog then threw the robotic corpses at others making sure to leave their target alone.

The robots finally returned fire and Silver lifted a psi shield and looked to Blaze to see what she'd do.

She waited for them to stop before charging up a large fireball and preparing to fire. As she threw it with both hands Silver pushed forward with his shield sending all the bullets back followed by the large ball of flame.

The bullets in the psi shield shredded his targets and fireball finished what was left leaving the sole survivor left with some minor burns.

Silver lifted his hand and forced it in place while walking towards it and said "Ok do the hacking"

Blaze calmly approached going behind it and opened a hatch and plugged in. Within a few moment the data was mined and she pulled out the cord and walked back around and gave a nod.

Silver took his cue and crushed the robot into a ball before dropping it.

"Hope the others have as easy a time as us" Blaze said walking towards the fifth target.

Silver agreed walking by her side.

Shadow…

Shadow sped to his target and didn't worry about scouting it out, now that he was by himself he could work at full speed. Speeding into a large group of eggbots he felt chaos energy emit from his hand and smashed the ground causing a blast wave in all directions. Robots close to him were disintegrated while ones further away fell over from the force, some more damaged than others depending on distance. He knew exactly which one he wanted so made sure to keep that one on the outside.

He jumped and homing attacked his way to the nearest robot bouncing off and starting a chain. His speed making it hard for the eggbots to keep track of him.

In no time flat he destroyed all but one, he charged a blast of chaos energy in his hands. Before it could react he fired and the ball of energy slammed into its foot and exploded causing it to fly backwards, the explosion destroying its legs.

He approached finding it heavily damaged and forced it onto its stomach and began the hack keeping it down when it tried to move.

When it finished he stomped on the head and made his way for the meet point.

Scourge and Nicole…

The green hedgehog casually walked towards his targets location, he'd been silent the entire time while Nicole walked next to him holding her PDA.

With some time to talk Nicole said "I hope I didn't offend you when I said I'd watch you for everyone"

He rolled his eyes, he liked the silence "Ya, what happened to that trust talk?"

"I apologize but I just needed an excuse to help you. Do not take it personally" she smiled innocently.

"Didn't know computers could lie" he huffed.

"I did not lie, I am watching you, but I trust you won't do anything rash. But yes I could lie if need be"

Scourge looked away and asked "So what exactly can you do besides talk?"

She wasn't concerned with how he asked that and explained "Well this form is solid, I could hold objects if need be, meaning weapons. I also have the advantage of being able to be shot and have nothing bad happen to me unless my PDA is physically damaged. I'm not sure if it works but my PDA also has a laser cutter that I can also be used as a mini laser on it too" it had been awhile since she was even in this PDA so it may have broke through the years.

"A little more useful than I thought" he smiled a toothy grin.

"Yes I am more than just a pretty face" She grinned using humour to hopefully get him to loosen up.

"Oh and now jokes, you continue to surprise" he said.

Before it could continue Nicole said "Oh, the target is just ahead"

"Better get down then" Scourge said in a deeper voice creeping his way forward and unhooking the shotgun he'd used on Robo-Nack from his back.

"Just watch my back, I'll get this done" Scourge said.

She nodded letting him lead.

In a few moments they gained sight of the robots. This group had some heavier eggbots protecting the target. They were the fat kind, which meant slow, but had powerful cannons and a small shoulder rocket launcher. One easily noticed weakness was their back armor was weaker, but they were designed to face you in combat so that might be hard.

"Course it can't be easy" Scourge groaned.

Nicole tried to think of a plan and smiled "Well if you can bait them into using their rockets I could shoot them out of the air with my laser" she lifted her PDA and a small arm extended from the side with a small pen like attachment. The tip glowing with a red energy. She sighed glad to see it seemed to work.

"What about the heavy armor and cannons" he asked adjusting his jacket.

"Unfortunately I don't have much to help with that" she shrugged worried about that.

Scourge hummed and thought "Maybe if you can get close and use the fusion cutter attachment, cut open the armor and make a weak spot for me…. That'd put you really close to them though"

"If you can distract them and keep them looking in one direction I could do it easily" Nicole wasn't gonna just sit back and do nothing.

Scourge nodded and right before he was about to take off he stopped and sighed "Here take this" he handed over his shotgun "If they notice you, you can defend yourself" he sped away before she could say anything in return.

She looked at the weapon awkwardly remembering a rule Rotor once said. The freedom fighters never used guns in the past, but that was then and this was now. Eggman crossed the line, and unlike a lot of times, they might have to cross their own lines to win" so reluctantly she held it properly and sighed hoping her old friends wouldn't look poorly on her for this if they were watching her right now.

Back to the action she looked out and heard booms coming ahead and moved closer to get a good look. Scourge was already dodging laser cannons from the heavy eggbots. He avoided the latest blast with a slide as it flew where his head would have been had he kept running.

He got to his feet and hopped as the next shot fired at the ground just below him. He smirked as he continued to run and saw them prepare their rockets locking onto him.

As they fired he made a quick turn to where he left Nicole and hoped she was ready.

She saw him approaching and lifted her PDA out and aimed the small laser.

Scourge saw and turned so he'd go past her and saw the first beam pass by him. The beam connected with the first missile and caused it to explode, four more coming through the explosion.

Scourge passed by the lynx and the missiles followed dust getting in her digital eyes.

The duo repeated this process until all the missiles were gone and Scourge slid to a stop next to the lynx.

"Alright, step two, take em out" he grabbed her PDA "Stop projecting, I'll drop you and get them to face away"

"Please be gentle with me" she pled, although she knew he wouldn't damage her.

"Don't worry about a thing, I won't mess up your shiny buttons" he chuckled using that joke again.

She sighed not wanting to think about that right now and handed her computer form, and his shotgun, to him and disintegrated away as the projection turned off.

Scourge speed off towards the enemy again and started performing large circle around them waiting for an opportunity to drop Nicole discreetly. After a few rotations a shot fired in front of his path kicking up dirt so he decided now was the time. He feigned being caught off guard and performed a jump that looked like he just barely reacted to it and rolled as he hit the ground. He dropped Nicole and his shotgun in his fall making it look like he simply lost his grip and continued running as he came out of the sloppy roll.

Performing a half circle to make them all face away from his teammate he then started simply annoying them. Taunting them, dodging and speeding around in front of them with ease.

Nicole materialized and picked her computer form up and the weapon making a holster on her back to hold the shotgun and ran up behind the closest eggbot silently. It wasn't hard, with all the noise of their shooting her footsteps however loud were over taken by their cannons and Scourges yelling and taunting.

Lifting her PDA up she readied her laser cutter and quickly sweeped left. The laser was strong, a custom made plasma cutter added on by Rotor back in the day. It was strong enough to clean cut most metal as long as it was thin enough without needing to take so long. Against stronger metal or thicker metal it could still do the job faster then average cutters.

Seeing the cut was strong enough to cut through it's vulnerable back armor she continued making a square in the back. Once done she saw the panels edges glowing red and hesitantly pulled the shotgun from her back and shivered.

"It's not a real person, just an eggbot, you'll be ok" she tried to reassure herself still frozen.

Hearing a yelp and "Wow too close!" from Scourge snapped her out of it and made her look to see he had nearly been hit by some coordinated shots. Seeing him nearly hurt or killed gave her enough motivation to take a theoretical deep breath and push in the panel.

Now the bot would have to know she was there so quickly fired a shot in the now open back as quick as she could. Even though it worked and eviscerated the inside of the robot the recoil caught her off guard and knocked backward and fell over.

She shook her head looking up to see one of the heavy eggbots notice it's destroyed companion, then at her and aim at her and fire.

She gasped and the beam vaporized her. Too bad for the robot she was just a hologram.

Scourge saw the whole thing and for half a second legitimately thought she was gone but then realized what she said earlier and dashed forward at the group. Before they could react he jumped past them all and using his speed and airtime to smash into the back of the robot who attacked Nicole with a spin attack. The weak back shattered from the force as he bounced off next to Nicoles PDA and scooped up both her and the shotgun.

On the screen it said "Thank you"

"Ok, two down, only three more to go" he smirked.

Doing it all again was easy. The bots didn't expect it to happen again thinking Nicole had been killed. When it did happen again another turned to get her, but Scourge was ahead of the play this time and took it out before it could shoot at Nicole.

With one left and the actual target bot they repeated it all a third time. The bots learned though and expected Nicole to appear again. Scourge just countered this by smashing the back of the robot looking behind the other leaving the last one functioning.

Scourge distracted the final robot and Nicole snuck up behind and quickly plugged into the back of the targets head with her PDA, before it could get her away she hacked its motor systems and forced it to stand still while she mined for the info.

In a moment she had what they needed and activated the self destruct of the lone robot and took a few steps back.

It exploded sending parts in every direction, including a panel that fazed through Nicoles head as she smiled proudly.

Scourge panted a little and wiped the dirt off his jacket and said "For a hologram you sure are more useful then I expected"

She nodded but looked to her PDA and said "Oh and sorry to say, my buttons got dirty"

Scourge paused then burst out laughing, not exactly what he meant but she tried.

"Whatever holo-chick, let's get going" he said holding his stomach for a moment due to be sore from his laughing.

She followed glad to see a smile on his face and they duo headed to the meet point.

At the meet point…

Since Shadow had left first, didn't stop to plan or really slow down at all he waited at the meeting point for nearly an hour. Next to show was Silver and Blaze, their target had been nearby but both were fast anyway. Second was Scourge and Nicole. The green hedgehog had taken her PDA and ran most of the way. Once there he let her materialize again and take it.

Last was Tails and Fiona, since she was slowest of the group Tails had to slow down for her.

"Everyone got their jobs done I assume?" Tails asked looking around getting nods. He was also glad to see Scourge was still with them and Nicole unharmed.

"Did anyone see the last group on the way here?" he asked next.

Shadow said "I saw them when I initially arrived here, they moved out north. I believe they know we're coming, they must have noticed our specific attacks and went to hide or get in a defendable position"

"Then I guess we got no choice but to follow" he motioned for the ebony hedgehog to take the lead.

Shadow led them in the direction he last saw them heading in and everyone got ready for an ambush of some kind.

On the walk Scourge just had to ask Nicole something. He discreetly walked to her and quietly asked.

"Got to ask, why of all the people you partner up with me?"

She looked over and debated whether telling him would be better than not and eventually said "Because I was working on a trust exercise" a smart grin on her face.

Scourges unamused face rolled his eyes and asked "And what would that be?"

"Why to carry me of course" she knew it wasn't obvious but she acted like it was.

"How does that prove anything?" he groaned hating being led on like this.

Nicole smiled and explained "You see I put a lot of trust in the people who carry me, they literally hold my life in their hands when they do so. Not many people have been allowed that responsibility and I thought you should"

The Moebian stared at her for some time before finally saying "Ya well Shadow is pretty much me plus his powers, trust him to protect you"

Nicole shrugged "Fine, but no more touching my pretty buttons then"

She continued to walk while Scourge just stopped and stared at her as she continued on. Then he huffed a little amused and smiled "Well, she likes when I touch her buttons" he shook his head still trying to get over her actually nice comeback and kept walking trailing behind the group.

Tails kept pace next to Fiona and looked around for any sign of trouble.

"You think we're walking into a trap?" the female fox asked. She could see he was tense and looking around a lot, besides that his ears were always flicking at any foreign sound.

"I'm not keeping any possibility out of question" he replied back.

She nodded "Good, I'm sure Shadow thinks the same"

"Probably"

Fiona thought for a moment then asked "So what do you make of Nicole so willingly wanting to partner up with Scourge?"

Tails shrugged "Not sure, but they are both back unharmed, that's all I care about"

"I guess you got a point there"

This time it was Tails who asked the next question "Think I made the right calls, like who to send with partners and who not to?"

"Sure, we're all still alive and not pissed off at eachother… why?" why'd he need reassurance?

Tails looked away and sighed "Well… it seems I'm the leader of this group and well… I was never the leader back with the Freedom fighters; my age pretty much made me a follower by default. Sally and Sonic were the ones in charge. I… I'm not sure I can do this"

Fiona frowned but also smiled a little "You really worried about making the wrong decision?"

"Ya I am, I mean…. Somebody said it before but we may be the last chance for Mobius. That's a lot of pressure when you are the one making the decisions" he couldn't even fathom how Sonic and Sally kept their composure all that time with such odds against them.

"I know it is, but as a team we all have a voice, we all have opinion, so you aren't the only one in the decision process"

"But I still have final say… sometimes I wish Shadow would take charge… I was fine taking orders as a kid. If something went wrong my mind could rationalize that it wasn't my decision, it's not entirely my fault… I don't have that smoke screen anymore" he sighed, literally feeling the weight of the world on him.

Fiona didn't know what else to say, she doubted Shadow was ok to lead. He clearly wanted this like the rest of them but his outburst from before showed just how far he might go. His decision had payed off so far and Scourge had been ok, but if he was making the decisions all the time he could do some risky plays and get people killed at the expense of furthering their cause. Atleast she hoped that wasn't the case.

It worried her that Tails felt so much pressure. He was healing from his old wounds she had caused, that much stress could hurt him more. She'd have to keep an eye out for him. She had one consolation prize for him though.

"Hey listen, don't fret too much, so far you've done fine, we've only grown since you took charge and we've made quite a few of steps towards taking on Eggman in a relatively short time. So take that as you will" she smiled encouragingly.

He returned with a thankful smile, but she could tell it was phoned in. He appreciated her effort but he still felt the fate of Mobius on his shoulders, one mess up, and it could all be over.

"Hey guys you see that smoke"

Everyone snapped from their personal bubbles and looked ahead and saw black smoke in the distance.

"Black smoke?" Tails mumbled "But that means burning or…"

"We won't get an answer standing here, let's go" Fiona said already jogging ahead.

The path of the robots they'd been following went all the way to their destination so whatever it was, they were there too.

The group agreed with that and ran forward. Fifteen minutes of running led them to a large structure, quite massive. It bellowed smoke jigh into the sky, small flames coming from the chimneys.

Tails quickly realized what it was from past experience and subtle signs that he recognized "I think it's a factory"

Shadow growled "probably where he builds his robots for this area"

Something moved near the top of the factory and revealed a slowly ascending airship, like the one that bombed Shadow and Silvers old home.

"And a refueling station it seems" Nicole observed.

Silver was in awe but said "If it's a factory, imagine how many robots could be inside"

The realization reached everyone, if they invaded this place they would surely be gunned down in minutes.

"But think about how much of a blow that would be to Eggman to lose it. A factory takes up resources, meaning there must be tons of it in there, if it fuels airships we could clear the skies somewhat. Plus like Shadow said we could cripple the forces around here" Fiona smirked.

"And the information that could be in there" Tails hummed in thought.

Everyone was silent watching the airship fly away into the distance and Tails felt he was being watched. He already knew why and looked to his left and found everyone staring at him, for a plan or an answer.

It was time to truly test his skills as a leader…

 **Ok so that's this chapter done, man I'm glad I'm done that. For some reason it just felt really hard to write. But I muscled through it and got the stuff I wanted done, done. Anyway like always send a review if you want and make sure to check out my TailsxNicole oneshot, you might just like it.**

 **Live long and prosper**

 **Admiralkirk**


	21. Just a trim

**A/N Hi-ho! So the last chapter was semi character, and semi action, so hope that was nice. Anyway sorry for getting slower, work is dissolving my creativity a bit but I'm trying my best. I'm also thinking about the other things I got going, my Tails Nicole thing, and the other story started and kinda left a few weeks ago.**

 **So let's get going.**

The team headed back to their hide away so they could have time to rest and figure things out. Nicole made sure to mark the location of the factory for later if they decided to go back. With such a heavily defended facility she wasn't sure Tails would commit to an attack but for now all he wanted was time to think.

They arrived back late in the afternoon, their feet sore from the walking, except Nicole who obviously had infinite stamina due to her body not being real.

Fiona was far worse than everyone else as her foot had only recently healed and by the end had an obvious limp to relieve some weight from that foot.

Unknowing to anyone else the walk was bugging Shadow too, he subtly messed with his leg brace and quickly swallowed a pain pill he'd received from Rosemary while nobody was looking to help with the pain.

Once everyone was inside they went about to make dinner. Silver and Blaze traded ideas while Scourge went off to be by himself like normal. Shadow listened in on the hedgehog and cats conversation, he didn't really care what they chose though. Nicole plugged herself back into the projector system and went about her business.

Fiona just wanted to get off her foot and sat down on her bed sighing in relief. She took her boot off carefully and inspected it. Everything looked fine to her so she sighed wanting to go nap but knew dinner would be made soon.

She was about to read when Tails appeared a few feet away "Foot feeling ok?"

Fiona jumped from his sudden appearance then looked at him oddly "How the hell do you move so quietly in such big boots?"

He shrugged and explained "I designed them to be quiet, military grade stuff to dampen sound" he acted like it wasn't a big deal. Probably wasn't considering who he was.

"Well anyway, it hurts like hell" she massaged it again.

He jokingly replied "Well I'd help but I don't want your stinky feet in my hands" he chuckled.

"That's rude" she light heartedly smiled.

"Thought you got used to that by now" he smiled.

She liked seeing him smile and joking again. It made her remember the good times back in the day. When he was just a kid growing up and experiencing life when he wasn't fighting. She remembered how much The Freedom fighters tried to let him be a kid when he wasn't on a mission, but he was so smart he knew what was at stake.

He was always working on a project of some kind. Only when Sonic or somebody forced him to leave it be and just hang out would he be the kid he was supposed to be. Ironically he was fighting so he could be a kid, so he could see his parents and so he could have a normal life.

In hindsight she hadn't been much different, she was ripped from her family at a young age and imprisoned for so long. So long that the replica Eggman made of her met Tails when he was nine and she had grown another five years. No wonder she was so messed up.

More importantly it made her wonder, people with normal childhoods who went to war sometimes came back broken, but with effort, fixable. How could someone who never experienced being a child at all be like when it was all over? Maybe she got a glimpse of it when he nearly killed her.

In her thought Tails still stood there awkwardly and scratched at the back of his head. Doing that made Fiona realize something , he'd grown mullet behind his head.

"What's up with your hair?" she asked. It was normal like before except the back had grown into a bit of a mullet that spread left and right at the end as it neared his shoulders ending just above them.

"Oh, ya" he huffed like he was surprised "I forgot I even had that" he felt back there running his fingers through it "I never really bothered to cut it partially because nobody was around to judge me about it and also because I just kinda forgot"

Fiona smiled seeing him smiling at the realization.

"Should probably go cut it actually" he pretended to cut his hair with two fingers as he said this.

Fiona stopped him "No, I actually like it, I mean just clean it up, I think it suits you"

"You think so?" he was surprised running his hands through the long hair again.

"Ya, if you want I could help with that" right after she mentally smacked herself for saying that.

He thought about and shrugged "Sure I guess, not like I can get back there, but later, I still need to start thinking of a plan of attack on the factory. Hopefully that robot we need leaves before then, it will definitely make things less complicated. I got mom tracking it for now"

"I really don't know how the seven of us are gonna get in there" Fiona said frowning.

"I should get Shadow and Scourge to go out and take pictures for me, so I can get a proper idea of what to do" he tapped his chin in thought.

"I don't think it will be easy any way we do it"

He continued to explain "If we can get inside I believe things may get easier, unless the place is rigged with tons of traps we can get through the building easily. Even if it's full of eggbots we can travel through areas they can't, like vents, under the floors and other tight spaces"

He didn't notice it but Fiona found his choice of words at the end just a little amusing.

The foxes mind went back to asking Shadow and Scourge to do some scouting when it hit him "Wait, Shadow has a chaos emerald, and he can teleport…. Maybe he can teleport us all inside"

Fiona looked to him "I totally forgot that, think he pull off a seven person teleport?"

"I'd have to ask him" he said already walking out and leaving her be. She took the opportunity to continue reading her book.

In the kitchen area, Silver and Blaze finally decided on mac 'n cheese, atleast for themselves, Shadow was off to the side preparing a simple sandwich for himself since they were using the oven.

Tails walked in and saw Shadow finishing and turning to get away from the duo.

"Shadow need to talk with you a sec" Tails silently flicked his head back meaning in the hallway.

The ebony hedgehog followed taking a bite as he did and met the younger fox outside.

"What?" he gulped down the bite.

"I was trying to think of a plan to get in that factory and it occurred to me that you can teleport with the chaos emerald, think you could pull off a seven person jump?"

Strangely enough his voice was deeper and more intimidating again, although only Fiona would notice the change if she were there.

He sighed thinking "I don't know, if I did it probably wouldn't be accurate, or travel far enough. I could send us all right into their defenses or half into a wall. I can't do seven, I might be able to do two plus myself"

That really limited his plan but he was already recalculating in his head "So we'd only be able to send you and two others, at best? Hmmmm" he closed his eyes to clear his mind.

Shadow just waited, eating away at his food.

"Ok, Nicole would have to be the second person, she could hack into the systems and shut down the defenses and anything else we need taken down. Allow the rest of us in and maybe route us around the base and delay eggmans forces"

"Sounds like the best plan we got, who's gonna be number three?" he asked gulping down another bite.

"I believe I can help with that choice" Both males looked to Nicole who materialized next to them.

"Who do you think Nicole?" the fox let her continue.

"Why Scourge of course?"

Both gave her strange faces to explained her reasoning "We'll need someone who's fast to get through the factory quickly with Shadow, you can go really fast Tails but only in short bursts, Scourge can keep up with Shadow and will allow us to reach a terminal quicker"

"She's got a point" Shadow looked to Tails.

"Ya I guess she does, if he tries anything funny, you take him out" he told Shadow.

"I doubt he'll double cross us inside a factory full of robots that want him dead" he reassured back.

"Also very true, alright so I guess that's the plan, we wait outside while you three find us a way in. We'll tell everyone in the morning, for now just relax" Tails advised.

Both nodded and went about their business. Tails didn't have any chores to do around the base. Nothing had really come up today, there was really only one thing to do besides just sit around. So he walked back to the bedrooms.

He found Fiona reading and debated whether to bug her again, but he also sort of just wanted to watch her for a little. He found himself wanting to do that now, it was obvious to him why, so far his luck had held up and nobody noticed him do it.

Finally he shook himself from the trance and walked over "Hey, feeling better?"

She looked up, he found it a little cute "Ya, doing fine, can Shadow do it?"

"He can only teleport two people and himself reliably, so we're sending Scourge and Nicole with him" He expected her outburst.

"Scourge!? Why him?"

"Because he's the only one who can reliably keep up with Shadow"

She sighed "…. I guess that makes sense"

Tails then awkwardly scratched his head "So…. Can I take you up on that hair thing now?" he looked away nervously avoiding her eyes.

Her pause to answer nearly made him back off but she closed her book "Sure, I'm not doing anything really important" even though her head screamed to stop doing stuff with him she felt he could use it and asked "Where you wanna go, cause you might be losing some hair"

"I guess, the workshop, got a vacuum in there" he said smiling.

"We go there a lot" Fiona chuckled.

"Ya guess we do" he chuckled back and led her back to the workshop door. She quickly slipped on her boots and followed.

As she followed she wondered why she never noticed that mess on the back of his head, it truly was bad.

He reached the door and went inside first with Fiona right behind.

Like always the room had neatness to it in an organizational way, but looked pretty dirty when it came to cleanliness. Something told her Tails didn't worry about gathering dust until it had to absolutely be dusted away.

"So I should just sit on a stool and let you work?" he asked turning to face her, catching her looking around like always.

"Oh ya sure" she said, then asked "You got scissors and a comb right?"

"Somewhere I think" he looked though a few drawers until he had both items.

"Why does your workshop have a comb in it, she understood maybe scissors but the comb made no sense.

"Used to have a weird habit of running the comb down my arm when I was thinking" he shrugged not really bothered with admitting that, he'd grown out of it, instead just rubbing his chin or closing his eyes.

"Wow, but I guess we all got our weird habits" she shrugged getting behind him and getting a good look at the terrible mess.

"This is one of the greasiest and knotted up messes I've ever seen" trying to run the comb through it even a little.

Before he could reply her attempts to get through it made him yelp in pain "Hey be careful"

"I'm trying you cry baby" with a few more strokes she was able to straighten out a small section on the far right, combing through a few more times to make sure it was good. From then on she worked from right to left doing small sections as she went.

Every so often she'd hear the younger fox grunt or hiss in pain.

Thinking back to when she got haircuts she knew conversation helped "So…. What ya think about Silver and Blaze?"

He looked puzzled "What ya mean?"

"You haven't noticed it, Silver is crushing on Blaze hard. He somewhat admitted it to Scourge and I when we were watching movies" she ran her fingers through his hair to see how her work was going. Tails liked the feeling of her doing that and delayed his reply because of it.

"No didn't notice, guess I've been working too hard" back when he was younger he used to think he wasn't very good at socializing because he was awkward and shy, with age he'd come to the conclusion that now it was because he worked too hard.

"Guess it was a good thing I put them together this morning, accidentally gave him a chance to work the moves"

"Wonder if he did?" Fiona asked.

Tails thought back a few minutes ago "They were both making mac 'n cheese for dinner, so maybe"

"Nothing says romance like mac 'n cheese" she chuckled and heard him do the same, her smile only growing hearing him happy as well.

Although his smile went away as she ripped at his hair again "Sorry" she apologized.

"Probably should have gotten you a spray bottle or something"

She nodded "Ya would have helped" she was halfway done getting through the thick stuff which was mostly all she needed it for so neither moved to get any.

Tails shifted a bit to get comfortable and held back a small giggle when he felt her fingers run along his neck finding it a little bit ticklish. She heard and would occasionally do it purposely just to hear him hold back snickers until Tails caught on.

"Ok, you can stop that now" he wasn't angry, he had a nice smile on his face.

She smiled stopping, he truly started to feel like an older version of his old self again. It warmed her heart to see the monster that he used to be gone and the good guy he'd always been back.

"Alright almost got it" she ripping at a really stubborn clump.

"Ow! Dammit" he growled.

"Finally after a lot of effort the clump was gone and Fiona actually felt slightly winded from the effort and found the rest much easier.

"Ok, took a monstrous effort but now I can cleanly run this through without it catching on anything. Now let's just clean it up a bit so it isn't as messy looking" she was mostly talking to herself but knew from experience that she liked hearing what the stylist would do so you could ask questions or something.

Fortunately for her Tails wasn't much of an expert in the area and must have had the humility to let her work since she was clearly more experienced than him.

"Your mom ever bug you about this?" she asked the sound of her snipping away in both their ears.

"I think so, now that I think about it. I probably just blocked her out or muted her though"

"Rude" she laughed "Come on she's your mom!" she couldn't remember her parents anymore, too young to have much memory of them, in her sleep she sometimes could catch quick memories but most were too hazy to see much. She only remembered one thing and that was a clear picture of her mothers face. She got her looks mostly from her.

"I know, but sometimes she cares a little too much, if I took her advice more I might not do anything. But I still appreciate that fact she cares so much" he sounded truthful with what he was saying.

Fiona was glad to see he was so relaxed, more importantly she was glad he still had his mom, sort of. From what she knew he got to know his parents after defeating Eggman, his relationship with them had heavily strained his relationship with Sonic and especially Sally. Things turned out ok though.

Tails seemed to be thinking deeply as Fiona continued her work. He spoke up again "Did you ever wonder if we found and freed your parents?" he asked very cautiously.

"No… while I was trapped Eggman tortured my mind saying they were dead, I assume you never found them?" she frowned and stopped working old wounds opening again.

Tails frowned, he'd briefly wondered if they had been found a long time ago but sadly they hadn't been listed "No, we never did"

"Thought so" was all she sighed out.

"I'm sorry Fiona…"

"Don't be, you couldn't have done anything. It happened and I got to live with it" she felt that knowing her parents had been gone might have been one of the first scars on her mind that caused her to almost entirely change her personality, nobody when she was young to teach her right from wrong. Besides that she had nobody to think about that would look poorly on her bad decisions. They just couldn't be there to influence her in any good way besides the memory of them being gone.

She could tell he wanted to say something, but just had no idea what to say. What could he say? He had the opportunity to know his family, and she simply didn't.

She got back to work after a short moment of thinking.

Tails sighed and tried to get away from the silence "So that generator you helped me with I was able to get it nearly done see?" he pointed over the nearly complete piece of hardware.

"Cool, thing hurt me so bad" she laughed.

"Ya well I grinded down any sharp edges so if you want to mess with it you won't be cutting yourself again" he did it for himself but it was good for a joke.

"Well thanks, I'll make sure to remember that"

After a few more seconds Tails asked "So you haven't cut a chunk off one side and made it look uneven right?"

"No, I decided to not be cruel today" she bit her tongue already hearing his resentful response.

To her surprise though he just thanked her.

She definitely felt a little paranoid around him still.

Paying full attention to his hair again she realized she'd pretty much subconsciously finished and inspected it quickly to make sure she hadn't missed anything.

"There, I think I'm done, I suggest you take a shower though, to get the loose fur out and…. Clean your grimy hair…. When was the last time you showered anyway?" she asked noticing a bad smell.

"Awhile now" he admitted embarrassed as he got out of the chair.

"Well go shower you pig!" she yelled playfully.

He yelped and backed off a little "Alright, alright"

She gave him a smirk and crossed her arms like she were saying "Yup, I'm the boss" and watched as he walked out to do as she commanded.

When he left she heard her stomach growl. It just occurred to her that probably everyone beside her and Tails had eaten, so she left to go make some dinner for the both of them.

Inside the kitchen she found she had been right, even Scourge got off his butt to get something to eat and everyone was watching movies in the rec room. The fox started looking around and got something going.

She found some ham and hash browns and started cooking that. She almost felt bad for eating this stuff while other got those crappy rations outside. Her stomach didn't though.

Fifteen minutes later she heard footsteps approaching and looked back to find Tails had finished. He had dressed back into his cargo pants and white muscle shirt. He was still drying a little even after trying to with a towel so he had that wet dog smell linger around him.

He had expected nobody to be in here and get something quick to eat but found Fiona cooking.

"Hey, feeling better after that shower?" she asked.

"Ya, much better, what'cha making?"

She revealed it to him and smiled seeing him almost drool.

"When was the last time you ate?" she asked.

"Yesterday, but I suck a cooking" he shrugged.

"Luckily I'm here" she chuckled.

He smiled and went to make something but she stopped him "It's for both of us you know"

He paused and realized it was pretty obvious considering there was too much for just her "…oh"

She laughed "It will be done soon"

"Thanks" he smiled.

Fiona heard some laughter from the other room and said "Everyone seems to be getting along it seems"

"What about you and Scourge?" he asked, there had to be some tension between them.

She sighed remembering him "I can tolerate him, and he has been helpful. So I have no direct problems with him being here. But if he tries anything I'll be the first to kick his ass"

"Hopefully he won't, I think he knows what situation he's in. Everyone else seems to have found their ways around him" he was glad for that.

"Well I guess it doesn't really matter. As long as he does his job it doesn't matter if we like him. Although I suppose antagonizing him wouldn't do anything but force his impulsive nature and make him either leave or do something rash"

Tails nodded in agreement

The two waited for several more minutes until their dinner was done and when it was, split it between the two of them. Joining the rest the team spent the rest of the night watching movies.

Soon one by one people headed to bed, Silver going first, practically passing out right there in front of the TV, he was followed by Blaze, Then Fiona, Tails, Shadow and finally Scourge. Nicole went into her sleep mode once Scourge had left and everyone rested for what was to come tomorrow.

All in all, a relaxing afternoon.

 **Damn another bit of a wait. Sorry about that, and DAMMIT another character chapter, I was starting this out to get right to action but it morphed into more talking. I won't promise the next chapter will be action but I will heavily imply it so I back out if I do something like this again.**

 **Anyway hope it was nice to read, I feel like I'm not doing enough for the side characters and their little interactions. If you feel that way too let me know and I'll try to shift a little focus.**

 **I also want to say I forgot about Shadows powers for a moment too.**

 **Live long and prosper**

 **Admiralkirk**


	22. Infiltration

**A/N So peoples this is chapter 22, ya here's my excuse. Mortal kombat x and the new dlc, it's actually the first MK game I have ever owned and played(my bro has MK9 on his hardrive on the old xbox but I never played it) but on paper fighters that are two dimensional spaces never appealed to me LIKE DODGE LEFT AND RIGHT DAMMIT, my common sense cutting in. It's why I kinda likes soul caliber more. Anyway I love the game but I suck at it and I know it. Still having trouble doing button combos to do specials and advanced combos. I haven't learned to jungle more then a three hit combo. Ya I just suck, but I still love it…. I also play with the stick and am forcing myself to try and use the d-pad but it ain't working. Anyway thanks for waiting and being patient guys, I hate doing that. But I mean I just wanted to play that for awhile. So thanks for the patience(if any of you were actually going "OMG I need my Admiralkirk fix! Lol) Nah I don't think I'm that good.**

 **Let's see where this goes.**

Morning came and everyone geared up for their most difficult mission yet.

Scourge had been informed of his role in the attack and at first he didn't want to do it at all. Shadows anger didn't help. In time Nicole finally approached.

"Scourge, I know it's not the most ideal place for you to be but we need efficiency. You and Shadow are the most efficient at this job. I will be with you as well and I believe you will do a good job" she hoped kind supportive words would help more than anger and violence like Shadow had tried.

The green hedgehog looked away and sighed and mumbled only so she could hear "You're pushing my buttons now" he groaned "Fine I'll do it, but if we die you die first" he pointed to Shadow.

"You make sure it doesn't come to that and I'll do the same" he warned. He fiddled with his leg brace as Scourge turned away to get his gear.

Off a short distance away Tails was all armored up. He was waiting crossed armed next to Fiona. She'd thought about it and now wore a makeshift bandolier with filled magazines for her pistols along them, freeing up some space for a few more hand grenades. Tails also offered an old experimental set of his original shock gauntlets. He warned they didn't recharge over time like his current ones did but they had two guaranteed charges. Besides that they were metal and had small spikes on the knuckles, so even with the charges gone she'd have stronger hits.

"I may hate his guts but I think he'll do his job" she said.

"I really hope you're right" he watched Scourge intensely as he hooked his shotgun to the back of his belt "You ready?" he asked her breaking his stare to her.

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be, just hope I don't take another bullet to the foot, especially not the other one" she tried to act like she was joking but she was clearly frightened.

"This isn't too different from stuff we did in the past" Tails tried to reassure her.

"Back then we weren't heavily outmatched, had Sonic with us to be a distraction, more people and more equipment to pull this stuff off" she sighed.

"If Shadow, Scourge and Nicole do there job we won't be nearly as outgunned"

"We'll still be out numbered"

"We'll find our way into the ventilation system and move around that way"

Fiona was about to ask further but he beat her "Nicole will download a map of the place so we'll know where to go, so don't worry" he smiled encouragingly "We stick to the plan and we'll get through all this fine, just need the execution and the plan will go right"

"And if we can't keep the plan together" She asked.

"Then we improvise and execute that right" he said sternly. He hoped confidence would help make her confident. Thinking back in the day that's how he and Sonic worked. He'd always been confident in everything he did, and it just overflowed into him. When he felt scared, afraid and feeling like he couldn't do something he'd always been a shining beacon of confidence for him.

She nodded and took a deep breath "Ok, well. You've gone through some crazy stuff in the past. I guess we could try and rub off some of that luck from you" she then rubbed her hands along his cheeks a few times like she were shaking off some fairy dust, it resembled when a grandma pinched your cheeks and shook them "There, now I got some"

He chuckled rubbing his cheeks a little "Hope it works" he smiled hiding a blush with his rubbing.

They turned back to find Scourge was ready and all of them looked to the two foxes.

Tails felt he should say something so took a moment to think "I can't do speeches, but everyone just stick to the plan and we'll get through this. I know we can do this, with skill and some luck. So, everyone be careful, don't take unnecessary risks…. And make it back to base alive"

They all nodded agreeing with that and they all exited the base. Shadow making sure to have the chaos emerald before leaving.

They travelled faster than last time since they weren't trying to track anything this time. Shadow and Scourge ran, Scourge carrying Nicoles PDA. Silver used his telekinesis to lift Blaze and Fiona and himself and fly alongside them and Tails was able to keep pace using his tails as propellers.

Within minutes they reached the small hill they ascended before to spy on the factory and came to a stop. The group crept up the small bank and looked over. Nothing much had changed, another airship was just leaving as they arrived.

"Ok, so everyone know the plan?" Tails asked.

He got nods and took a deep breath "Alright then, Shadow do your thing"

The dark hedgehog nodded and reached out for Scourges hand. He reluctantly took it and with his other hand took Nicoles PDA.

"CHAOS CONTROL" in a flash of light the three were gone, leaving the other four to wait.

Inside…

With a flash of green Scourge and Shadow appeared in a hallway.

"Ok we didn't reappear inside a wall" the dark hedgehog sighed.

"Ya, awesome" Scourge mumbled wiping off his jacket.

"We should start moving, the sensors surely have picked us up by now" Nicole appeared with only her head being projected from her PDA.

"She's right"

"How do you know? There's no alarm" Scourge crossed his arms.

"Could be a silent alarm. Everyone here is a robot, no need for sound when they are all connected together like a hive mind" Shadow growled back getting ready to go.

Scourge followed though rolled his eyes.

Within a few seconds the hedgehogs were running near full speed through the halls blasting past a bunch robots giving them no chance to even notice them. They wanted to find a terminal to connect to quickly. There Movements slowly were noticed, their rushes of air giving away their position. The robotic network soon using the information between eachother to respond to the threat.

Within a very short time doors started closing and locking, normal small ones and the larger blast doors that closed the large hallways. The two hedgehogs zipping past them all as they slowly closed.

Their speed kept them from getting trapped but if they didn't find a usable terminal soon it wouldn't matter when all the doors locked down. Luckily they were both faster than the doors and slid under the next one which was about a meter from the ground as they entered a new room. There were no other doors to be found and the one they just went through had fully closed.

"We're trapped" Scourge growled.

"I can see that" Shadow grumbled.

Nicole materialized from the PDA hanging off Scourges belt. Once fully constructed she took it off him so she could walk freely and looked around.

"This room has no other entrances. That must mean it's important, we could be in luck" she digital eyes scanned around.

The space was mostly dark, and generally hot, hotter than most of the building. All the machines working at once caused a bad stench and heat. Here it was much hotter, why was what they were about to figure out.

Listening they could hear electronics, the buzz of electricity filling their ears. The sounds of heavy fans was heard next, quite loud and large sounding.

Nicole finished her scan and suddenly beamed with a large smile "This is the master computer!"

"How in the hell did we get that lucky?" Scourge sighed flapping his vest for a moment to cool off.

"However we ended up here doesn't matter, we're in, find an access port" Shadow ordered to which Nicole quickly started searching.

"We'll watch the door, doubt they'll try anything if this is the master computer" Shadow said turning to the still closed door. It was still dark and the only light was coming from either the master computers small lights all across the room or Nicole, who's form gave off a faint glow.

"I will be as quick as I can" she said jogging down scanning the walls as she did.

"No smart ass quip?" Shadow asked.

"Haven't thought of anything good yet" he said pulling out his shotgun incase something surprised them.

For the next few minutes they heard Nicole walking around, the echo of her feet telling them she was still searching. Their eyes never left the door.

After what seemed like a long time they heard Nicole yell "I found it! Please watch the door, my hacking will surely raise their aggression"

Nicole was packing a small pistol so if anything came near her during the hack attempt she could protect herself, but she was confined to a small area. So it was still very much Shadow and Scourges job to protect her.

"Also this may go without saying but please be careful of the equipment, if anything is damaged it could shut down the system or effect my efforts, or worse"

The males looked to one another and knew Scourges shotgun either had to not take part in any fighting here or he'd have to make real sure where any random shots might go.

"I am beginning hacking protocols"

As a reminder Shadow said "Remember, turn off the lockdown protocol, download a map, and deactivate all defenses if you can and anything else that might be useful"

"I understand, I will do my best as quickly as I can"

With that her humming was all that could be heard for a long time, or atleast what felt like a long time. It probably took five minutes before noises could be heard on the other side of the door.

Thinking quickly Shadow looked to Scourge and said "Hide somewhere, let them walk in a bit if they come"

Scourge did as told and ran to the side of the door so he could lean against the wall and be almost unseeable. Shadow quickly found a spot far to the right peaking around the corner of where a row of computers began.

Both waited, occasionally looking to the other. There wasn't much of a reason, mostly to see if any last minute messages were sent, but both were good where they were.

Another minute passed before the sounds of metal on metal floor died and door hissed and slowly rose.

Both hedgehogs tensed and got ready, the humming from Nicole ending wanting to keep her position a secret as possible.

The first bots came through, minor bots. Five entered scanning around for any sign of the intruders.

Since Scourge had been beside the door he was relatively behind them all and got ready to homing attack his way through them all.

He began with the closest jumping into the air and curling into a ball and fired forward. Smashing into it he took the top half off and bounced and fired at the next and took it out too.

They took notice as he prepared his third bounce and turned to fire but Shadow was ready to go and slid by sweeping all their legs in one go since they had been standing in a row.

They all fell, quite comically, and Scourge quickly finished them all off before they could recover then dashed out of sight of the open door to avoid any gunfire.

Hiding again the duo waited for the next wave.

Quite quickly eight more entered, running, with no caution and all looked around in different directions. This time not in a perfect line, to avoid what happened a second ago.

Getting a bright idea Shadow kneeled, quickly curled and spun in place charging up. The sound of it attracted the eggbots attention and approached cautiously. Seeing this Scourge quickly made a decision and walked out into the open.

As expected his appearance caught all their attention and aimed at the green hedgehog. He smirked, that's all he had to stall for. In a mere instant Shadow fired into sight bouncing between the eight targets in less then a second and came to a screeching halt next to Scourge smoking a little from the dash.

The dark hedgehog nodded to the green one in thanks who just huffed back and fixed up his jacket.

The two hedgehogs positioned again waiting for another wave. This time four average eggbots entered followed by three heavy kinds Scourge and Nicole faced yesterday. The difference was they were missing their laser cannons, probably to minimize damage to the computer.

Remembering them Scourge motioned to Shadow silently that they needed to hit the back and he nodded understanding.

Shadow stomped on the ground catching all their attention. Scourge being on the opposite side homing attacked towards the closest of the larger robots and struck it's back. The metal caved in then gave way for him to damage the inner working, like yesterday he was easily able to do this all and shut it down.

Although his action caught all their attention. Using his speed he dodged away behind a row of the computers forcing them to not fire at him.

Shadow did the same as him but with a chaos enhanced punch ripping into the heavy bot and causing it to fall forward with him. As it landed his jumped up, homing attacked to a smaller robot so he could get close enough to the computer as well to get to safety.

All the while Scourge went in again taking out the third robot and finished off the last three.

This continued, their increasing numbers hardly seeming to matter. When they got smart and made sure to only have half look towards any distractions the hedgehogs made Scourge and Shadow just got more deceptive or aggressive.

Shadows chaos empowered attacks were able to break through even strong armour.

But then it stopped and Shadow realized they'd been going for twenty minutes "How's it going Nicole!?" he panted a little, using his powers usually made him tired, but he'd worked his endurance, he could do this for much longer even if he started using more powerful attacks.

"I am nearing the end, just one more fire wall. These systems are much more advanced then the last time I hacked into any of Eggmans systems. He seems to have upgraded since then"

"Just make it quick, there's getting to be a lot" so much so that the destroyed eggbots had caused a pile that blocked their exit and the eggbots entrance. They must have used a magnet because they somehow pulled the scrap into the hallway to clear it away.

Yet still nothing came.

"What the hell is going on" Scourge growled to himself.

They suddenly heard Nicole yelp. Both hedgehogs tensed and Shadow quickly flicked his head to tell Scourge to check it out, he wasn't letting his eyes off the open door.

In an instant Scourge ran back and found a thin slender, black robot threatening Nicole. Infact it was forcing her form against the wall and going to unplug her from the wall.

Even in the darkness he could tell it was special, thin, agile and flexible. But how'd it get in?

"Let go of her!" he yelled catching its attention just in time. Before Scourge could react the new robot threw Nicole at him. She dematerialized just before hitting him as she flew too far away from her PDA. Scourge flinched all the same.

Through the disappearing pixels the slender bot flew threw and it's fist collided with Scourges temple.

"Ahhh" he growled recoiling backwards and to the side making him fall into the wall just barely keeping him on his feet. His eyes were fuzzy and tried hard to stand up straight.

"Fucking bastard I'll dest-" before he could finish his threat his felt a knee to the gut which took him to the ground this time.

He hacked having lost his breath and was on his knees. His eyes still weren't clearly up. He desperately lunged forward to try and tackle his opponent but fell flat on his face when he learned nothing was there. He groaned coughing and tried to get up.

As he tried he felt a foot collide with the side of his head, the hit also causing him to smash his head into the wall.

He screamed in pain feeling darkness at the edge of his vision. Anymore and he'd be knocked out.

Using all his strength he swept out his leg hoping to trip this new robot but like before he found only air. For his trouble he got a hard stop on his back. The shock knocking him completely to the floor and losing all motor control for a half a second.

He tried to move but it hurt too much. But then the floor was pulled away from him and cold metal hands grabbed his jacket collar.

He finally was face to face with this thing as it held him in the air. He was almost entirely limp from the short but brutal beating and blinked to gain some of his vision back.

It's red optics stared at him.

He did the only thing he could think of, he spat at the robot and smirked "That…. All you got…. Huh? You prick"

One hand left his collar and prepared to punch him and silence him for good.

A loud bang went off and the bot dropped Scourge. He tried to land on his feet, he succeeded, but his injuries made his legs give out and fall.

"Scourge, stay down" he heard a feminine voice yell followed by three more bangs.

"No problem…." He was all to glad to oblige on the fringe of passing out.

Around him Nicole used her side arm to make the robot back away. Her first shot connected in the lower torso but the agility of this thing allowed it to dodge the next three.

Before Nicole could try again it disappeared, very similar to Tails cloak. The last she could see of it, it was jumping away.

She jerked around trying to spot it again but had no luck.

"Scourge?... Scourge please wake up!" she said trembling. She wanted to go to him and help but not only was that dangerous but he was too far, her PDA couldn't project her that far. All she could do was watch helplessly as she kept working on the firewall.

The quick glance she could afford allowed her to see he was trying, very slowly. His arms trembled just trying to lift his own weight. "I…. better…. Get… a day off… for this"

The lynx heard something but was too slow. She turned only to feel the gun knocked from her hand and a swift metal hand on her throat. It knew she was just a hologram after throwing her so just threw her away again.

She hit the wall behind it and shattered into pixels. Like always it didn't slow her down. Seeing it approaching her PDA again she materialized next to it and slapped its hand away. Only to receive a backhand from said hand to make her go away.

She tried her hardest to stall it, for any kind of help, but so far Scourge was still down and recovering while Shadow seemed to be unable to help.

Materializing yet again to intercept it tossed her away again. This time no more time left to stall. It reached out ignoring the reemerging Nicole who desperately tried to pull its arm away. But its raw strength made it ignore her entirely now. It picked up the PDA and prepared to rip the cord from the wall. It stopped and smacked Nicole away again and looked to the PDA and seemed to decide to just crush it.

When suddenly a loud bang went off. It's lower torso torn away leaving a gaping space in between it's chest and legs. Before it could fall another shot went off in quick succession taking its arm off and saving Nicole, the strong PDA simply falling to the floor in the severed arms grasp.

The bot fell hitting the ground and had nothing to defend itself but it's second arm.. Nicole got up from her fall and saw it was Scourge with the angriest glare she'd ever seen. His shotgun smoking from the two shots. He forced the robots second arm to extend out horizontally and used his shotgun to smash down so hard it severed that appendage too.

He dropped the gun and hefted up the, now useless robot and faced the wall. Putting a palm behind the head he swiftly smashed it into the wall. Then again… and again, and again. Cursing with every smash he probably did it ten times before letting it drop to the floor and stomping on what was left of the head.

"That is what you get when you fuck with us!" he yelled breathing heavily afterwards. Afterward wiping blood from his maw and spitting the rest from his mouth.

"Scourge…?"

He snapped from his trance and saw Nicole getting up, just a little fear in her stance seeing his display. She wasn't afraid of him, just surprised at his brutal strength even after such a beating.

He just panted hard his strong anger filled body suddenly trembling as the pain came back and asked "Please tell me you're done?"

She looked to her PDA screen, prying the device from the severed arm and saw it was infact done "Yes, it will take me only moments to find what we need, I will also be able to access the network with ease from any terminal if need be"

"Just… do it please" he panted leaning against the wall, right next to him was hydraulic fluids on the wall from where he'd mercilessly smashed the eggbot against the wall. Some had gotten on his jacket as well. His legs simply gave out and he slid down the wall to a sitting position on the floor.

Nicole placed the PDA back where it had been and walked to Scourge and accessed the damage "Are you alright?"

"Do I look alright?" he was still bleeding from the mouth a bit, some coming from his nose as well, the kick must have caused that. The spot he'd been punched in the head was now swelling slightly making a small bump. A quick look under his jacket revealed a bad spot on his back where he'd been stomped.

"You are far from ok" she pointed out agreeing with his sarcastic question.

She adjusted his jacket for him and noticed his glasses had fallen off. Looking around she found them just close enough for her to grab them and inspected them. Against all odds they still weren't damaged so she placed them in their rightful place.

"There, all back together" she smiled.

He made a noise that sounded like he wanted to chuckle but only coughed.

She frowned, this would complicate things, he was far too beat up to continue on. Already the plan was falling apart.

She looked back at him and said "Thank you"

"For?" he grunted out.

"Saving me" she smiled, right after that Shadow slid around the corner, he looked like he'd been hit by a hard hit or two but was relatively fine.

He slid to a stop "Guess he ran into another of those stealth bots. During its fight it had used the stealth systems just like when Nicole shot at theirs.

She nodded.

"Must have been how they got in without us seeing them, how is he?" he asked.

"Hurt bad" she frowned showing his injuries.

"Dammit" Shadow cursed "Did you get in?" he asked the lynx.

"Yes, I…. have finished all I was required to do. She extended her hand and opened her palm making a small projection. First was a projection of blue prints of the factory. Second was a over view of the plant and all it's levels and all the door symbols turning green signaling they were open, including all outdoor entrances. Finally dots representing the defenses in and around the facility turned red as they powered down.

"I have also left a copy of myself in the system to allow me easy access back inside and to combat any reactivation of systems" the hologram dying as she tended to Scourge again.

"Are there more?" she asked.

Shadow shook his head "Seems they expected those things to finish the job, but that might change soon"

Nicole knew what that meant and went back to her PDA and pulled her cord from the computer "Ok, what about him?" she had no intention of leaving him behind.

"Sadly I can't chaos control him out, I'd have to come back to help and leave him alone, and we can't leave anyone else behind to protect him outside, we need everyone we can. They'd probably tracked my teleport and find him where I left him while we're still in here fighting. For now, he has to stay with us" he truly hoped Scourge would get over his injuries quickly, doubtful, but possible. He'd already seemingly pushed past it all and annihilated his opponent from existence.

Nicole hated that idea and spoke up "What if I lock both of us in here, with you and everyone else causing problems they'll forget us"

Shadow sighed it seemed like the only really good choice, Nicole was most useful in the system and she had an access point right here.

"You sure you can stay safe in here?"

She nodded sternly "There's auto turrets all along this hall to protect this room, I'll activate them and use them to stop or stall anyone who can get to us. Even if those stealth things tried to sneak past them, the doors are too heavy for them. I've scanned this ones corpse and it doesn't have a built in fusion cutter. It is completely designed to be as stealthy as possible"

"Alright then, once I leave close the doors and hunker down, we'll contact you if we need help, but I'm sure you'll hook into the cameras and see anyway" Shadow said getting up from his kneeling position getting on the move.

"Good luck" Nicole said plugging herself back into the computer. Behind her Scourge simply grunted as his fair well.

Shadow left the dark and hot room looking around and found nothing to attack him and put a hand to his ear.

"Tails, you hear me?" behind him the door was already closing.

"What news you got for us Shadow?" his voice coming into his ear.

"We completed our part of the mission, but some new stealth robot attacked us. I was able to take mine out but Scourge was beaten near to death. He and Nicole are hiding out in the main computer room, they are secure"

Tails made a groan of annoyance hearing Scourge was down but said "Alright, we're heading in, meet you there"

Nicoles voice came up "I will direct you to eachother, then direct you to our objectives"

"Good thinking Nicole" Tails said, he could be heard huffing, probably running to get inside with everyone else "How is Scourge"

"He has taken hard hits to the head, back and stomach. He won't be moving, I'm sorry it was my fault. He was protecting me"

"It was nobodies fault, neither if you are dead, that's all I care about. Be safe, we'll get this done" Tails said being surprisingly encouraging. Although he was surprised to learn that Scourge nearly died for Nicole.

"I will remember that" she replied "Shadow, proceed to your right, I will direct you further when you reached the turning point, I will keep an eye out for any traps or ambushes being made ahead of you and Tails"

"Thanks Nicole" both hedgehog and Tails said.

Shadow jogged forward keeping it slow to get his strength back from the hard fight and to be more careful. Despite Nicoles eyes watching anything could still happen with invisible bots walking around.

He quickly fiddled with his leg brace again now sore from the fight and quickly swallowed one of the pain pills from his pocket and moved forward.

He was vulnerable until he found the other group…

 **Ok so that actually extended to near 5k, like actually that fight was long. Anyway I wanted this out RIGHT NOW, because I'm hooked on Mortal kombat, Division is out in two days and I'm working basically all week. So it was now or never. Thanks for the patience. Tell me what you think of the fight and don't forget to review guys.**

 **Live long and prosper**

 **Admiralkirk**


	23. Bringing back hope

**A/N Hey ho! So last chapter was fun, I really got into the fighting. I have to say the next bit of stuff has been fuzzy, like I've been trying to bridge it to the end game. And thanks to some amazing brain storming at work I pulled off some good story(I hope) So hopefully with my big plan all together this will all work out.**

 **And like always check out my other stuff if you feel like it. Just forgive my crappy editing(Which was non existent for awhile lol)**

 **Also I'm sorry for re-releasing this, it had a ton of unnoticed errors in the second half.**

"Nicole, where to next?" Tails was lightly panting as he asked. He was closely followed by Fiona, Blaze and Silver. Silver panted the hardest having the least endurance of the four.

"Continue to your right, then left, I would recommend not going right at the second turn as there is a blockade in that direction"

"Thanks" he said gratefully following her instructions.

Behind him his companions followed hearing a slight groan from Silver.

"How much further to Shadow?" he asked.

"Just a little bit further, I'm having you meet up, near the assembly area. If we want to shut this place down it will be in there" the lynx explained.

"What's your plan?"

"I have discovered the plant uses high explosive material, combined with the fuel for the airships and many other chemicals a simultaneous explosion would cause an uncontrollable fire, but burn the place down slow enough for us to escape if need be" she hoped that made sense.

"What's the window of explosion to collapse"

"Roughly ten minutes. That will give you all enough time to escape and Shadow to come get Scourge and I"

Tails liked it, it'd be close but nothing was ever easy.

"Don't forget about that data we came here for, get a fix on that?" Tails asked further as he took a left where she directed.

"That is why I'm sending you to the assembly area, not only are most of the large containers holding the explosive material in there but our mystery robot is there too"

"Great job Nicole, give me any heads up if things-"

"I must stop you, a new blockade has formed in your path, rerouting…" her warning made Tails stop forcing everyone else to do the same while Nicole made another course.

"Ok, to your right a few meters ahead of you should be a vent, you will need to take that, there is no alternate route. Since we took the main computer the robots have been working to lock down the building and closing off every normal entrance into the production floors. But they can't over the vents. It is your one choice"

"No worries, we'll get inside quick" Tails smiled finding the vent pretty easily and was working to unscrew it from the walls.

"Forgive me, I must tell Shadow to redirect course, give me a moment" she asked the channel changing.

"What's… going on?" Silver asked seeing Tails was done talking to Nicole.

"Place is getting locked down fast, only safe way through to our objective is through the vent system" he briefly explained.

Silver groaned "Great, what a time to have white fur"

Blaze looked to him "It will be fine, what's a bit of dirt over your wellbeing?"

"Guess you got a point there" he chuckled, he was just a little surprised that the princess had no problem with crawling around in filthy vents.

"Personally I think the only problem we'll really have is if the vent gets too thin" Fiona said as Tails ripped off the cover.

Silver then visibly thought rubbing his chin and asked "Ummmm… why do robots even need air conditioning?" This place was completely run by robots and any orders Eggman had were probably sent via transmission, so why?

Tails shrugged leaning the cover against the wall "If I had to guess the best I can they're probably to keep cool air circulating through the building. Heat can be bad for a building over time and possibly to the machinery. And obviously for the computers since they must be really hot"

"Whatever reason they exist we're still gonna use em alright?" Fiona said.

Tails peaked into the opening and turned on the light on his helmet to look inside "Seems we are. It looks clear" He crawled inside on hands and knees.

The fox was followed by Fiona. Blaze looked to Silver who just motioned to the vent "Uhh, ladies first?"

The cat eyed him oddly "Oh really, you want me to go first?"

"Uhhh, ya… to be polite?" he asked confused by her objection.

"Uhuh, and there's no other reason?" she prodded.

Silver just tried to defend himself further "What? A guy can't be chivalrous?"

She smirked "Oh, chivalry is it, well doesn't make help my suspicions"

He mentally smacked himself "Why'd I say it that way" he suddenly understood her meaning, crawling through a vent on hands and knees and he wanted to be behind her.

"Nevermind, I'll go first" he suddenly tried to fix his mistake. He quickly took the lead and crawled inside.

Blaze just carried a commanding smirk and chuckled while mumbling "Ah, make em work for it" she quickly followed afterwards and the duo caught up to the two foxes.

Tails finally heard back from Nicole who explained that Shadow was travelling through ventilation as well. She rerouted the two groups so they'd meet above production area.

Because of his extra armor the vents felt a bit smaller for Tails then everyone else "Damn it's tight in here"

"That's what he said" Fiona chuckled.

"Even for you that's low hanging fruit" Tails said.

She hummed "Ya maybe, but still you got to admit you walked into that one"

"…. Ok yes"

Nicoles voice came over his earpiece "Ok, you should see Shadow any second now" as she said this the sound of machinery got much louder as they probably passed by wall into the production zone.

Like she predicted in another minute Shadows head poked around the corner ahead at an intersection point and looked left then right. The intersection opened into a larger box so they'd all be able to talk. In the middle was a grate they could use to drop down if they wanted.

"Hey Shadow" Tails said squeezing into the more open space.

"Good to see you are all ok" he replied.

Tails stepped aside so everyone else could pass by. Fiona slipped through and kneeled next to Tails as Silver came through next. Like the goof he was his hand slipped on the rim and he face planted on the metal floor. Luckily for all of them the machines working away below them drowned out the noise he made.

When he recovered Shadow just smacked him in the back of the head "Sorry" he said rubbing the back of his head.

Blaze slipped out last "Nice one Silver" her comment making him blush a little embarrassed.

With that they left the poor kid alone and looked to Tails whose mask lifted up. He was about to speak but Nicole broke in and spoke to all of them.

"Ok now I've revised the plan a little. Unfortunately there's no way to remotely blow up all the containers at the same time. "What I have found though is that materials here can be used to make some make shift bombs. We need to build four for each tank. We activate them at the same time then put them inside the tanks, on a timer of course, and get out. Sound like a plan?" she hoped they could do that.

"Just how complicated are these bombs?"

"Pretty simple really, pretty much pipe bombs, mostly just to ignite the chemicals inside the tanks. You'll need some tubes and a way to seal them, a way to detonate it, either a long fuse or a remote trigger if we're lucky. And finally a concoction of the chemicals found in the plant which I will explain when the time comes"

Even for Silver it seemed simple, almost like extreme arts and crafts.

"Ok, any ideas for any of that?" Tails asked.

"For tubes, there's actually some being made right now. They are small and easily handled. They're supposed to be the outer casing of robots legs or arms but will fit our purposes. Pick them up at the end of the line before they are taken to the main assembly line. I will direct whoever goes for those"

"I think I can do that" Fiona offered.

"Excellent, second we'll need caps to seal each side, totally honest it could be anything as long as it fits well enough to keep the concoction inside.

"Blaze and I can probably do that" Silver offered, luckily Blaze didn't protest.

"Great, we'll need a detonator of some kind, either a remote trigger and igniters for the bombs or somehow make a fuse that will last long enough for us to escape"

"If it's tech related I'll handle it, I could make some make shift stuff" Tails offered.

"Perfect, so I guess that leaves the most dangerous job for Shadow, you will need to make the mix. The chemicals are somewhat in the open so it will be dangerous" Nicole said with a worried voice.

"I'll find a way" was all he said "Just tell me how to mix it when I need you and we're golden"

"Alright, so I guess we have all of our jobs. Be careful, I will be tending to Scourge unless you need some subtle support" the lynx said signing off.

Tails took over "Alright, everyone get on with it, and like she said be careful"

The vent in the middle of the box was taken away and the Mobians dropped down to land on girders. They must have been there to support the roof and hold stuff up like lights, but for them it was a way to get around.

Silver, Blaze and Fiona hopped down first but Tails stopped Shadow "Hey if you can't find a way my stealth could always make it easier"

"Worry about your own job, I think I have an idea" Shadow said hoping down.

Tails decided to trust the experienced hedgehog and followed his friends down, finding the first three had gone their own ways. He activated his stealth and moved out.

In the main computer room…

"Ok got a plan going, we'll be out of here soon" Nicole said looking to Scourge. He'd somewhat adjusted the way he was sitting to be more comfortable but he was clearly trying hard to stay awake.

She frowned seeing that and sat beside him "Come on Scourge, I know you can stay awake" it didn't really matter, he really didn't have to do anything. Shadow would teleport them out and they were safe in here.

"It'd harder than it looks" he said weakly.

She sighed feeling a little useless to him right now, there wasn't much she could offer to him. No water or anything, mostly just her presence.

He grunted shifting his position again trying to sit against the wall straighter.

She noticed and tried to help but he grunted out "I can do it"

Her hands stopped midway and slowly went back to her lap feeling quite useless. She began to fiddle with her hands a bit and eventually played with one of her ponytails.

Scourge noticed, he found himself watching her silently. Not like there was much to do.

"So…. I hope your injuries aren't too bad" she broke the silence her eyes looking to him, but not really turning her head.

"I'll be fine… been beat in jail far worse" he shrugged but the said "Except maybe the back… guys usually never went for the back, never want to risk paralyzing the guy you're beating on, that's when they become useless"

"What'd they have you do?" she guessed the way he said that meant he had experience.

Scourge hated talking about his time in prison and he almost lost himself, but he had quite literally nothing better to do and she'd been somewhat nice to him despite all the bad things he'd done and his temper.

"Didn't really ask me to do much, sometimes I was told to shut up, sometimes I was told to get into a fight so they could shank a guy while nobody was paying attention… and generally just because I was an easy target to beat the crap out of" he sighed.

Despite Nicole agreeing he deserved his time in prison she couldn't help but frown "It's amazing you got out in one piece"

He shook his head "Nah, one day they got to too rough and someone pulled a blade on me, cut me up a few times… mostly just my arms since I used em to block" he pulled up one of his sleeves to reveal several cuts along his arm.

"Although they got one in" he lifted away his jacket and pushed back some fur around his stomach to reveal a stab wound scar.

"And you survived?" she asked somewhat in disbelief, getting beat, cut up and stabbed wasn't something you just walked away from.

"Nope, guards were on them pretty quick when the shank was pulled out… not fast enough to stop him in time" he mumbled "I was sent to the infirmary and was patched up. Was out within a day…. Got my ass kicked as a reward… only lightly though, since I didn't complain to the guards and get people in trouble" he looked away feeling quite vulnerable. Fiona knew about the cuts on his arms, it was hard to hide those, but the stab was concealed by his fur so she hadn't learned about that one.

"It must have been terrifying" she said shocked at what she heard.

"Ya…., when Fiona broke me out I was a shadow of my former self, nearly permanently. I'd basically become everyones bitch at that prison, a coward, afraid of even speaking to her incase someone thought I was making a gang to take over leadership of the inmates. She was able to snap me out of it though" he sighed reaching back to rub his back finding it hard.

Nicole almost didn't notice "Here, let me help" she was too quick for him to protest this time and gently rubbed his back and got a sigh of relief from him.

She smiled hearing that "Better?"

"….Ya…" he said.

She smiled and looked away nervously "Perhaps I could doing something like that when we get back?"

He looked to her surprised "Uhhh… sure… I guess"

She smiled again, her teeth coming to view. After that she just sat down quietly now enjoying the silence, she was waiting for either him to start talking or when the team needed her help.

With Silver and Blaze…

"So we should get some kind of cap, right?" the white hedgehog asked, looking around from his vantage point.

"Yes, if possible we might want to find something to fasten them on, like… tape" she quickly thought next to him.

"Or glue!" he said pointing to a small vat of industrial glue.

"Why does a factory making robots need glue?" Blaze asked.

Silver thought rubbing his chin again "….. I don't know, who cares, it's there so let's use it"

Blaze nodded getting up from her sitting position "Ok, you get the glue, find a container or something and use your powers to scoop it up and carry it, really don't want to have to pry you off a bucket because you got super glue on your hands"

"Uh…. Ya… good idea" he honestly was going to use his hands.

"I'll find some caps… oh and Silver, please be careful" she said quickly before finding a path using the machinery to hop down. Her cat reflexes making it look like a dance.

Silver watched for a moment to make sure nothing happened before floating himself down to the floor behind cover.

Looking around to see if anyone found him he looked around for a container he could use, in all honesty all he needed was something small, the glue was strong so only a little bit would be needed for each bomb.

His search was quick and easy but getting it was harder. His bad luck had a few eggbots patrolling nearby. He ducked behind cover just before they saw him and peaked around the corner. Since they were patrolling all he really had to do was wait for them to continue. His prediction was correct and he used his powers to pull the bucket to him.

"Alright step one over" he mumbled and made the short walk back to the glue vat. This time no eggbots were nearby so he quickly used his powers to scoop up some glue and flew back up to the ceiling when nobody was looking.

He put the bucket inside the intersection in the vents where they made their plan and looked out for Blaze to make sure she was ok.

He looked off into the distance and saw Blaze fine and maneuvering her way through the production area. She had eight caps and found a path back up safe and unseen.

"I assume you got yours?" she asked.

"Yup, it's waiting back at the meet spot" he pointed his thumb backwards "I'll keep a look out for the others"

"I'll join you in a moment" she stored away her stuff and both sat on a girder looking out along the massive production zone for any sign of their friends.

Silver then asked "So how you think it's going so far?"

"I believe we are doing well despite Scourges injuries. I believe we will succeed" she smiled.

He nodded in agreement "We should celebrate after this"

She made an amused huff and smiled "Oh you think so, well I think even Tails will agree taking this place down is worth some fun"

"Wonder what we could do" Silver pondered.

"We'll figure that out later" Blaze said trying to get him back on the mission.

"Oh right… but, I know there will be music, I'll show you my moves" he smirked.

"Oh I'm sure you will" she teased giving him a playful skeptical look.

He chuckled "You'll see, oh. You. will. See"

Their chuckles died down and Blaze pointed out to a smaller production line that branched back to the main one "Hey there's Fiona"

She was just picking up the four tubes they needed and soon snuck away safely and found her way back up.

"Hey you miss me?"

Silver shrugged indifferent "Only a tiny bit"

"Hurts my feelings" she rolled her eyes with a smile and stored her stuff with the rest.

"Anyone else show up?" the fox asked.

Blaze shook her head as the fox sat with them "Not yet, no sign of Shadow or Tails yet"

"Not surprised about Tails, and Shadow is quite stealthy when he needs to be" she said not worried.

They nodded, all three glad luck was on their side so far.

Suddenly all three saw a green flash far down the line, everyone thing inside the flash froze up. After a minute everything started up again, the stop caused a few problems, like stuff that was not stopped and still coming started to either fall over things ahead them or machines were out of sync now.

"Must be Shadow, I guess he froze time with his powers" Silver said.

"He can stop time?" both females asked.

"Only in a localized area, it takes a lot of energy to do too, especially if the field gets bigger or he holds it for a long time" he explained what Shadow had told him.

The females nodded and Fiona said "Well he messed stuff up, gonna be patrolling this area harder now" she sighed "I truly hope that was his one option"

Within minutes Shadow appeared below them and had a bucket of the mixed chemicals. It looked heavy so he wasn't gonna jump around with it and waved wanting Silver to lift it with his powers for him. The younger hedgehog did that and Shadow was soon up with them.

"Jeez Shad, could you have caused anymore problems?" Fiona asked sarcastically.

"It's all I could think of, shut up" he growled defensively.

She rolled her eyes with a sigh "Well that just leaves Tails"

"Someone say my name?" he appeared next to her.

"GAH… hey don't do that!"

He just laughed "Anyway, I got some remote detonators"

Blaze then said "Well that leaves just our mystery robot to steal it's memory"

Tails nodded "I think I know how to make these into bombs, I'll hang back and finish it off, one or two of you can get the memory" he passed out a hacking device waiting for someone to take it.

Shadow took it and said "I'll take it out, I'll hack it fast and get out quickly" he then disappeared in a black blur.

"Ok with that done, I'll make the bombs" Tails got past the trio and climbed into the vent to get to work.

"I'll… leave you two alone" Fiona smirked to Silver as she left.

Silver blushed a little and nervously asked "So… celebration plans?"

In the vent…

Fiona crawled through the opening and saw Tails already at work.

"Things seem to be going smoothly" she smiled sitting down near his working area.

"Seems so, you didn't encounter any problems did ya?" he said using the parts he found to make remote triggers and syncing them with his suits systems.

She shook her head "Not really, just the usual sneaking and junk"

"Good to hear" he smiled taking off his helmet so he could see properly and his gloves so he'd have more precision.

Fiona took the gauntlets and helmet and began studying them herself. Putting on the gloves she found them to be snug and quite comfortable. An obvious amount of care must have been put into them.

She put on the helmet next and found it didn't fully fit her head. It was mostly apparent from her ear placement not being perfect with the holes. She quickly forgot about that seeing the HUD in the eyes and looked around.

When her eyes went to Tails it pinged him as a friendly with a green symbol, then identified all the stuff he as working on as potential threats. The only item bringing up any actual danger were the chemicals.

"Wow this thing is cool" she said speaking through the visor filter.

"Ya, thanks. Took me a long time to set it up. I still find ways to improve the intelligence in there. At first it couldn't do much, just simple vision modification, like magnification, night vision, heat vision. All that stuff. Now it's pretty much like a video game I used to play, scans for weaknesses in armor, path prediction, and a bunch of other stuff. It is truly one of a kind"

Fiona smiled hearing him explain. It definitely was one hell of a piece of hardware.

She slipped it off and placed it back where she found it along with the gloves and asked "So how long do you think it will take to make those bombs?"

"Give me half an hour or so"

Nodding at that she was glad to get a bit of a rest, but feared staying in one place would eventually get them in trouble.

She stayed quiet and held her tail. She picked through the fur and untangled it. All the while Tails quietly worked. Just outside they could hear Blaze and Silver talking about celebration plans making Fiona want to see if he wanted to do that.

"Hey those two are talking about having a party or something after this mission, what ya think?"

Tails paused for a moment then smiled "Ya I don't see why not, this definitely warrants some rest and relaxation" he got back to work for a moment then looked to her again "I know it may sound odd to have in my base but I think I got a karaoke machine somewhere, jeez wonder if it still works?"

"If it didn't you'd just fix it" Fiona smirked.

Tails chuckled hearing that "Ya probably… actually… most likely" he got back to work again.

"I bet Shadow has the best singing voice" Fiona jokingly said.

He laughed trying to keep it down "If he's a good singer I'm the king"

Fiona chuckled nervously hearing that "Considering everything that's happened you might be the most fit for it. Hell imagine the odds if there was a list of people to lead and somehow your name was on there and everyone else above you died and the succession comes to you… wouldn't be too hard to see considering you were good friends with Sonic and Sally"

Tails shook his head "I truly hope that's not the case"

"Why, don't feel comfortable?"

"Well I was always shy, I improved over time though. Mostly kept to myself by choice. But I've already told you this whole leader of the team thing is already stressing me out, I can't imagine running the last of the Mobian population in such a fragile state" Tails shivered thinking about it.

"Don't worry I got experience as a queen, I mean despite all the wasted time on Moebius I was queen" she smirked laying on her side, propping her head up with her arm and threw on a british queen accent.

"I'm sure being a queen on Moebius is much different then one from here" Tails said trying to not look at her as her new position was quite nice to look at.

"You might be right there" he definitely was right, she hardly did anything.

"What exactly was it like being queen there?" he asked being somewhat curious.

Her free hand scratched behind her ear trying to remember, I had only been in the position a short time since Scourge got himself arrested and someone else took over. He had never taken the time to go back and get his throne back, more focused on revenge on the people who betrayed him and to finally defeat and kill Sonic.

"Well…. Most of the time it was both of us indulging in the power we had. Never much actual ruling… someone mentioned he was being just like his father, partying and having fun with his riches instead of actually doing anything… that guy went to the hospital for comparing him to his father"

"Damn… guess he's got some dad issues, good now I won't bring that up"

"Ya should have mentioned that awhile ago to be honest" Fiona nervously chuckled.

"No worries" he smiled finishing off the first bomb.

"You gonna sing?" she asked after a small silence.

He stopped and took a deep breath "Why, you wanna hear me?"

"Maybe," she smiled innocently.

He wasn't quite sure how to take that "You won't make fun of me?"

"No way, I promise…. Maybe" she sheepishly smiled.

Tails just sighed shaking his head "Maybe I will" he shrugged.

She lit up "Really, maybe I will too" she offered, she could tell it was hard for him to be so open, so she was also gonna probably make a fool of herself.

He smiled "I remember you sang once, you had a nice voice, I'm sure it will still be just as good"

"Really? Didn't think I was that good" she blushed.

He just nodded looking back down at his work to hide his face "Ya"

Fiona smiled and turned to lay on her back and rest. She was about to close her eyes when the metal box shook a bit. She jolted up to a sitting position but was glad to find Shadow crawling inside from his mission.

"So I guess you got it?" Fiona asked.

"With ease" he said handing the hacking device over to Tails, the fox placed it in his pocket and continued working.

Shadow sat quietly in the corner keeping to himself and Fiona rested like she planned. Blaze and Silver outside kept talking the entire time.

Just under Tails' predicted time he finished "All done, we can finish this"

"So we just place them under the big chemical tanks, run, blow it up, and the fire will be uncontrollable and melt the metal until the place collapses?" Fiona recapped the plan.

"That's it, thanks to the detonator we can blow it whenever we want" Tails reassured. During his scavenging he'd tried his best to find a detonator over a timer or fuse. A lot of things could go very bad in the short time it would take to get out, and a fuse or timer could catch up to them extremely fast.

The trio slipped back down where Silver and Blaze had been sitting and soon were ready to head out and finish this.

The four tanks were spread out along the assembly line, guards were near all of them, they must have known it was a weak spot. What was scarier was that maybe not all the guards were visible. Since Shadow and Scourge had fought those two new stealth bots it was in the back of everyones mind that they could be anywhere.

Tails looked to his teammates and passed out bombs to them all.

"Ok, because I have the stealth suit I'll take the furthest tank, or the most heavily guarded. Whatever we end up seeing"

They all nodded, nobody protested against it, he had the most stealth so it only made sense that he would take the hardest job.

"Silver and Blaze, you two stick together, Shadow you do what you do and Fiona…" he hated sending her alone.

"I'll get it done, don't worry about me" her face was stern she wanted to participate and help the team just as much as the others, even without powers she had to prove she was useful to the team.

Tails then said "And remember to keep your earpieces on, never know when things could go bad or need to talk to Nicole" they all nodded agreeing with that.

The five then split up heading their own way.

Fiona crept in the same direction she'd gone to get the tubes. She used the mechanical arms as steps. Last time it was fine but she slip and fell. Just barely grabbing on before she got out of reach.

She dangled from the constantly moving arm and tried her best to avoid moving or making any noise. She looked down at her belt where she hooked the bomb onto and was glad to see it was still there.

Still hanging she tried to reach and get a hold or anything but sadly the constant movement made it hard and made her hand slip before making a proper grip. Her other hand was slowly losing its grip so she tried to think of a plan.

The fox realized the arms were going in a pattern and thought maybe she could use that. Her acrobatic skills might finally come in handy since her escape in the forest years ago.

She had only another thirty seconds at best before her grip gave out so she focused on how she'd get this done. With her movements in mind she swung her legs forward and back like she were on a swing. The extra movement wasn't helping her grip but she was almost ready.

With perfect timing she swung forward as the arm swung in the same direction. Letting go at the point of most momentum she sailed through the air and just like she predicted the next mechanical air swung towards her as it moved to the next part on the line.

She got a grip of the it with both hands and silently cheered "Yes"

Pulling herself up she got back in a safe place and sighed in relief. The bomb still on her belt she walked along the arm with her expert balance and jumped on top of a furnace, most likely to heat metal for shaping. Her boots protected her from the heat and continued on.

Now was the hard part though, half way to her target there was no more elevated positions in that direction. Last time she did this for her last job she went to the right continuing along the line where there were tons of things to stay above ground. Now it was mostly open floor with some stuff laying around she might be able to use as cover.

There wasn't an easy way through the area without being seen so put a finger to her ear "Nicole do you see me on any cameras?"

A short pause was all she heard until the lynx's voice finally came "Sorry, was pre occupied with something" she sounded a little nervous but quickly got back to normal. Her humming was heard until she said "Yes I see you, what do you need?"

"See this open space ahead of me filled with guards, got a way to get me over there and back?"

Nicole started humming again as she worked and said "Ah yes, I think I do, give me a moment to bring it over"

"Bring it over?" Fiona asked confused.

In less than a minute a crane moved in front of her.

"This is your ride" Nicole said cheerfully.

"Excellent Nicole" she took a few steps back and ran forward and jumped catching the side. She mentally thanked herself for scavenging these gloves since they had built in grip.

She climbed on top of the container and stayed low, she really hoped none of the eggbots would notice and assume it's normal work.

Luckily for her it was taken normally and the container lowered into a designated area. It was much closer to the tank and had far less guards in the way now. As the container lowered she swung to the opposite side and hung from the side to avoid being seen and once reaching the floor hopped down and crept to the side to look around.

Peaking around the corner she saw five eggbots nearby, and one swatbot.

"Great, just what I need" she wasn't even thinking about the hidden threat yet.

"Ok, how can I do this" she whispered to herself.

Fiona debated if she could actually roll the cylinder through the crowd under the large silver vats. They had to be atleast ten meters tall and seven meters in diameter. It would make one hell of a bang.

The idea was swiftly left behind seeing as there were too many in her way, it would probably be seen or she could just straight up mess up and miss.

She gasped remembering, reaching in her pocket she had tons of EMP grenades now that her ammo was on bandoliers. Only problem was that she'd have to get out fast, the other guards would notice as soon as their fellow guards were down.

"Looks like I got to pull a blitz play" she sighed and contacted Nicole again.

"Nicole, you aren't busy again are you?"

"I…. no I am ready, what do you need?" she said nervously again apparently her bringing it up made her nervous again.

"Ok, I'm gonna rush the six bots in front of me and throw an EMP grenade, when I do have the container you grabbed, or a new one meet me at the top of the chemical vat, I'll need a swift exit"

"I understand, I will have another container waiting, just give me the signal when you run"

"Good…. Ok…." She took a deep breath, activate grenade… GO!

The fox darted from her cover charging her enemies and tossed the small silver device ahead of her. All six eggbots aimed and prepared to fire until the small device pulsed and they fell over being shut down.

Fiona just raced past them and pulled the bomb from her belt and threw it under the giant metal container. Now came the extra hard part. The big vat was next to a wall at the back so Fiona hoped she could pull off some wall jumps. Even for her going up something this tall was gonna test her skills.

She was thankful to see a crane carrying a container approaching.

Hearing metal feet coming around she ran as fast as she could to the wall and jumped. Her feet hit the wall first followed by her hands which all pushed again with her all her strength to make the rest of the height.

She'd never done such a perfect wall jump and even then she just barely gripped the edge of the rim and clambered up. She ran for the container, which was swinging by and like before gripped the edge and pulled herself up.

The fox panted heavily proud of herself for pulling that off without any problems.

"Watch out!"

Nicoles voice brought her body to full alert and swung around to see a de-cloaking robot behind her preparing to grab her.

Just barely side stepping she grabbed the offending arm and faced away from her attacker. Using her hip and leg she threw it over her shoulder and it made a loud crash onto the metal container.

Wanting a swift end to this she went to stomp the head but was surprised to find her foot in its hands. It applied pressure to her foot making her realize it was her recently injured foot as well.

She screamed in pain but still focused and pulled out another EMP grenade. The mere threat of it made it let go and quickly get to its feet. Its agility proving to be something she couldn't match.

It didn't matter, all she had to do was get it in the blast radius so activated the device and charge at it.

It's response was a quick sweep kick making her fall and lose the grenade as she landed. Seconds before it went off the bot punted it away saving itself.

The momentary distraction gave Fiona enough time to see exposed tubes in the back of the leg. Clearly Eggman designed them with speed and agility over armor. She pulled out the knife from her boot and slashed at the back of the lower half of its leg.

She was happy to see she was successful and white liquid spilled out. It flinched feeling that and Fiona too the chance to roll backwards and get to her feet. Now in a ready stance holding her knife backwards instead forward so she had more slashing power.

The robot only seemed to get more pissed off losing the white liquid, though it was quickly apparent she hurt it bad as that leg became much stiffer. She smirked, she'd hurt it… now to kill it.

This time she waited for it to attack knowing it still had much higher defensive reaction than her.

It lunged forward but it was just a fake out as it sidestepped and punched at her side. It stung badly but Fiona bit through the pain slashing at the extended appendage hitting hydraulics again.

The same white liquid spilled from it and the arm got visibly stiffer. Like before it only got more agitated. The fox smirked once again as she gained another advantage, though had to take a bad hit herself. None of that mattered right now.

Taking her advantage she lunged for the robot and stabbed into the weak chest. She must have gotten close to a fatal blow as it quickly backhanded her in the cheek forcing her to let go of the knife and fall back.

She grunted rolling backwards to get to her feet and gain distance. Coming out of the roll she nearly fell off the side and swung her arms to gain balance again. Below her robots were fighting against a black blur, clearly Shadow had been seen.

Her eyes went back to her opponent as she regained her balance and saw the half disabled stealth bot approaching. She had one trick left and pulled out a EMP grenade and activated it.

"Nowhere to run now" she growled, it was too slow from the damaged leg to run so it had to either fight or give up.

It made some strange screeching noise at her to try and intimidate her but she knew she had control now so it lunged forward. With every bit of speed it had it grabbed her wrist with its good arm which was the opposite arm she was holding her grenade, and squeezed forcing her to drop it and to the floor below. Accidentally helping Shadow a little as it took out two swatbots.

But it stepped in her trap. Since it had to grab her right arm with its right arm its right side was entirely exposed.

"You look pretty bad bud, maybe some juice will help" she smirked clenching her left fist activating her newly equipment shock gauntlet Tails loaned her. Like he said it could only hold one charge per gauntlet but one was all she needed as she punched into the chest sending a surge through it so powerful the optics exploded. Luckily nothing hurt her.

With it now done it fell letting go of her wrist. She caught it and spun it around to the edge and swiftly pulled out her knife from its chest "Thanks for keeping it warm" then pushed it off the edge into a molten metal vat.

"Man, I didn't even plan that but cool" she chuckled putting the knife back into her boot and with the help of Nicole found a path back up the vent opening.

She called out on the radio to everyone else "Guys, I made it back and got my bomb placed, how's everyone else?"

Blaze was first to answer "Silver and I are on the way back, he was able to send it under the tank with his powers"

Shadows voice came next, some gun shots and the sound of shattering metal and maybe the hum of chaos energy "Got mine done, though I'm a little busy, once everyone is back I'll join you"

Tails was last "Just finished mine, had a stealthy bastard to contend with but I'm good now and heading back through Shadows confusion" he gasped for a moment "Just hope a stray bullet doesn't brain me"

"Stay out of the line of fire " she hoped he'd be more careful.

"Don't worry, I 'm almost back"

"I had one of the stealth bots attack me as well. Hit me a few times but I'm still better than Scourge is" she rubbed her side as it pulsed with pain, her cheek also stinging. Besides that her fur was a little coated in the white liquid that spilled from the robots wounds.

"Glad you got out in one piece" Tails said.

Just as he said that Silver and Blaze made it back up using his powers and landed next to Fiona.

"Good to see you both in one piece" she greeted.

"Good to see you aren't too beat up" Silver smiled seeing the small cut on her cheek from the extremely hard slap.

"Ya, I got out easy compared to what apparently happened to Scourge" she groaned.

"Well you're still walking, that's what's important" the young hedgehog smiled.

Fiona nodded massaging her side while she waited and soon Tails appeared from thin air.

"Everyone ok?" he asked, he already knew the answer but it was just something Sonic would ask when he led a team.

They all nodded but Tails looked to Fiona "Didn't get banged up too badly right?"

"I'm still able to walk and run, I can get myself out" she groaned again.

Tails nodded and said over the radio "Ok Shadow, we're all back, it's time to go"

A black blur sped below them and ran up a wall then along the ceiling to their position. Shadow landing next to the group taking a quick breath "Then let's go"

"Nicole find us a way out" Tails requested "Once we're out Shadow will do two quick teleports and you'll be out of here"

"Ok, go back to the vents. Go back the way Shadow came, I will direct you further"

They followed her directions, Shadow remembered his way back and the group came out of the vent looking around for any enemies. There were none.

Shadow crawled out first with everyone coming up behind him and Nicole said "Now proceed to the right"

Shadow led the group through the halls going as fast as they could. Meaning Silver was carrying Blaze and Fiona with his powers like always. All the way Nicole relaying directions and avoiding any opposition. Almost over, so very close.

Finally after one final turn the group saw daylight.

"It is a safe exit" Nicole said going off radio.

Shadow nodded "Set off the bombs"

Tails nodded and saw Shadow disappear in green light going to get Scourge and Nicole. While still running outside Tails hit a button on his wrist and in a matter of seconds the structure rumbled from the explosions.

With them now outside they were safe and ran back to the hill they'd used to spy on the building before. A flash of green light blinded them for a moment. When it was gone it revealed Shadow standing next to Nicole and Scourge. The green hedgehog was being supported by the holo lynx so he could stand.

Fiona surprisingly asked "You ok Scourge?"

"You know I've been beat up far worse" he shrugged.

"We're all glad you're ok" she smiled warmly.

Scourge just shrugged again and said "So we gonna stay and watch it burn to the ground?"

"I think that's a good idea" Tails chuckled.

Everyone agreed and turned to watch.

Nicole said "It should take approximately ten minutes"

Silver groaned "Too looooong"

Blaze smirked and said in mocking tone "Patience is a virtue Silver"

Silver crossed his arms sighing angrily but waited silently.

Ten minutes went by and suddenly a loud crunch was heard. Then a snap, then loud creaks as the tallest smoke stack started to tip. It tilted more and more gradually gaining speed and Silver yelled "TIMBER!"

With a mighty smash it took down walls and another smoke stack. With the walls destroyed fire was seen engulfing the factory floor melting away everything.

Another couple minutes and almost all the walls had fell, all the smoke stacks were gone and several secondary explosions went off leaving a massive plume of smoke in the air, a puffy dark beacon to everyone nearby of their success.

For the first time since they all came together people would know of their efforts, maybe not their names or faces, but the surviving Mobians would have someone to root for again.

The hard part now was not letting them down.

Sadly there was no more time watch as an airship was coming so the group left for home.

 **Hell ya nearly 8k words. It could have been far longer if I made a section for everyones exploits. To be honest I hope nobody feels like they missed something.**

 **But seriously I liked this chapter, got my action in and got some other stuff in there. Hope you loved it, cause I did.**

 **Like always check out my other stuff if you're feeling up to it, review if you got something to say and keep being awesome.**

 **Admiralkirk**


	24. Relaxing

**A/N Well hello there, didn't see ya for a second…. Well actually I never see you. Anyway I hope the last two chapters were some good fun and I hope the action was easy to follow and understand. I've been told in the past I can do it well but sometimes I feel like it's just a one time thing. Anyway with a factory spilling tons of bad crap into the air(Great job by the way) let's see what happens next.**

The group wanted to get home quick. Firstly, because any patrolling eggbots, airships and other things might find them quickly. Second Scourge was hurt bad and needed some medical attention so they weren't wasting time.

In no time flat thanks to Silver telekinesis everyone got back and got inside.

"Mom, Scourge got hurt bad, I need you to check on him" ails said as he walked in. Right behind him Nicole was supporting Scourge like before and walked him to the infirmary.

The lynx got him inside and soon came out alone "Rosemary says she will inform us how well he is once she's checked him out but says he'll be fine for sure" she seemed relieved to hear that.

Tails sighed in relief as well "I'm glad to hear that, but for now everyone can just calm down and rest.

Silver was thankful for these orders and went off with Blaze like usual to talk about stuff, presumably how they'd celebrate. Shadow quietly went by himself to do who knows what. Nicole plugged herself into the projector system and simply watched Rosemary do her examination from one of the projectors without actually projecting herself.

With them all gone Tails let out a massive sigh of relief "We made it… and nobody is dead…. I can breath again"

Fiona turned to him and chuckled, awhile ago it would have hurt to laugh at all but on the way back her injuries were fairly ok "Did you stop breathing that entire time" she jokingly asked.

"Feels like it" he rolled his eyes looking exhausted and slouching "I was so worried about everyone and everything, I never thought for a second I could over think myself to exhaustion" he sighed feeling a lot of pressure on him like before. The successful mission not totally helping his confidence.

Surprisingly she just smiled seeing him all worked up, not only was it fun to see but it was something she'd never expected to see from him. At the same time she didn't like seeing the fate of the world on his shoulders but still, all in all he performed well.

"Listen Tails you did great today, and remember that. Your plan was near flawless once we got our bearings. Even with slight deviations it all worked out. So try to remember that. You are perfectly capable for all this" her smile was warm and encouraging making the kitsune smile back thankfully.

"Thank you…. hopefully I'll get used to it all quickly"

"Hopefully. So what you gonna do?" she asked as they walked to the armory to drop off their equipment.

He shrugged "Don't know, probably look for that karaoke machine I was talking about" he started stripping his armor and placing it on a specially made mannequin, the helmet simply sitting on a desk next to it.

"It's small right, cause if you need help I'm free" she took off her bandolier and unhooked the utility belt from her waste that held her guns, grenades and other stuff.

"Nah, I'll be fine. You rest off those blows that robot gave ya" Tails smiled twisting left and right the sound of his spine popping.

Fiona groaned and rubbed her side again "Ya maybe you're right about that"

As Tails left he suggested "When Scourge is done getting checked, see if mom has any pain pills for ya"

"Will do boss" she smiled and left to take a nap.

While she was doing that Shadow pulled Silver aside. The young hedgehog whining since he wanted to speak with Blaze. Shadow wasn't having any of it and as he practically dragged him away as Blaze held back some snickers.

"Ok, you got me. What you wanna talk about?" The ivory hedgehog asked fixing his fur. His mentor pulled him into the rec room where they were alone.

"I just wanted to say you handled yourself well on that mission" he looked away as he finished.

Silver gave him a confused look "And you couldn't say that next to Blaze? You not like her?" his second question making him look nervous.

"No nothing like that… just…" he hated having to explain this.

Silver though smiled knowing where he was going now. Spending almost all his time with him since Shadow recruited him allowed him to learn who he was very well. Only Rouge and Omega knew more about the dark hedgehog then him and that's because they worked together for years.

"You don't like saying stuff like that in front of people?" Silver smiled guessing what he wanted to say.

Shadow sighed but then gave him a small smile "You really have been paying attention"

"Of course I have, you were the first person to ever tell me to use my powers. The caretakers at the orphanage told me to keep them a secret, and the times I accidentally used them they tried their hardest to hide it. I was so afraid for so long that I'd be labeled a freak but then you came up to me after I nearly died saving people and told me that I wasn't a freak, but a potential hero" he looked away as well "Hearing that made me want to be that, a hero like you" it was now Silvers turn to be shy and look away as he rubbed his arm.

Shadow stared at the young male thinking over his words but said "If you knew what I truly was and what I've done you wouldn't call me a hero"

Silver sighed hearing that, he didn't think he was that bad. Maybe he was wrong, but whatever happened in the past was just that, in the past. He was trying to save the world now and that's all that matters.

"Still won't tell me about that stuff?"

"No" he sighed.

It always sucked when Shadow shut him out, he really did look up to the guy, in his eyes he was a great hedgehog, and even though he was harsh he was a good person. Plus he had learned small signs of him being in distress or other small cues. Something the average person wouldn't notice but he did simply because he not only looked up to the ebony hedgehog, but he cared for him too.

Silver just shrugged ready to leave but the other male said "Like said, you handled yourself well" even despite his somewhat clumsy moment in the vents "You kept your cool and got your jobs done…. You did good"

Silver had a heart warming smile as Shadow turned away and mumbled as he walked back to find Blaze "Softy" He rarely got such nice compliments.

Half an hour later…

Nicole waited nearby the infirmary; her spying from her projectors let her know Scourge was almost ready to come out so she waited outside for him.

Finally the door opened revealing Scourge. He looked much better than last she saw him. He still had a bad lump on his head, and a bandage wrapped around his chest.

Nicole smiled to him but he looked away adjusting his jacket. The response wasn't what she had hoped for but Rosemary's voice filled her ears.

"Well he took a beating but he is far more resilient then he looks. He might have some natural pain numbing" she sounded intrigued hearing this but Nicole knew the reason now that he'd told her his experience in prison.

"Anyway no major damage was made to his skull so I gave him an aspirin. He has a broken rib though so I'm advising him to take it easy. Lastly the stomp to his back doesn't seem to have caused any problems but make sure if he complains about it or the pain gets worse to come to me"

Scourge didn't look happy at all to have reasons for people to watch him. His annoyance showing as he straightened his jacket, crossed him arms and mumbled curses.

Nicole on the other hand decided she should watch him, nobody else would want to, so she took the job "I will make sure he takes it easy"

"Thank you Nicole" the motherly voice said before leaving them be.

The lynx just looked to the green hedgehog with a kind smile. He on the other hand walked away clearly angry at his predicament. Nicole frowned again and followed though kept her distance.

Scourged ended up in the rec room sitting the chair like he always did. A heavy sigh left his maw as he did feeling pressure off his aching body.

"Are you alright?" Nicole asked making a somewhat cautious approach.

"YES!, I'm fine, can you just leave me alone!" he snapped, he wanted nothing to do with anyone. He'd gotten his ass kicked and he really didn't want people to see him this way. He also hated that he felt like he was being watched. He could take care of himself, he'd done it most his life.

His outburst caught the lynx off guard taking a fearful step back. She'd seen just how dangerous he could get when pissed off, even when beaten to near unconsciousness. So to say she was afraid of him when he yelled was an understatement.

"I-…. I'm sorry, I took responsibility to look-"

"I don't need anyone looking after me dammit, she kept saying that for half an hour and I don't need to hear it from you! I've been hurt far worse than this in the past and I don't need someone watching over me. I can take care of myself!" he stood up in the middle of his speech ignoring the pain and gave her a threatening look along with an aggressive stance.

Nicole took another frightened step back, she seemingly forgot she was just a hologram. She looked away from the angry male and subconsciously made herself look small and curl her ears back.

"I don't mean to bring down your self esteem I'm only here to assist you if you need assistance" she put special emphasis on the word 'if' so to make it sound like it wasn't forced, which it honestly wasn't.

She continued to look away scared of the green hedgehog who was making growling sounds everytime he exhaled.

He wanted to yell more but something else in his head actually saw through the red in his eyes and saw she was frightened. Frightened of him. The realization made him stop for a moment, just long enough to think clearly.

His tense muscles loosened up and he gained a much more passive stance and sighed.

Speaking calmly he said "Just…. Give me some space alright" he seemed to forget to say something else, but his pride was too strong for that.

He turned to go back to his chair. Behind him Nicole was loosening up a bit but still looked frightened and saddened. She thought of all people here he might trust her to watch over him but apparently not, that coupled with his pride made him force her away.

She respected his wishes and began to step backwards and turn to walk away when she heard his voice.

"I-…. I'll get you if I need it…. Alright?" a small sigh that even she couldn't quite read.

She nodded but took his advice and left him alone almost forgetting she could just as easily watch him through her projectors.

A few hours later…

So far Scourge had been fine, maybe rubbing his side once in awhile or stretching to loosen his muscles, but besides that he hadn't required help.

He spent most of the time watching movies by himself. Shadow stopped by just so he could get something to drink from the bar. He was quiet and Scourge had calmed down anyway.

The ebony hedgehog nearly left without a word but stopped. He heard what Scourge had done, hell everyone knew. They were in a small bunker, everyone knew when somebody yelled.

He walked up behind the chair Scourge was in and waited for a moment "You shouldn't yell at her"

"People should leave me alone" he retorted back.

"She was only trying to help, I may not like it but medical professionals know what they are talking about. What you don't seem to understand is Nicole and Rosemary were just trying to help, because against what you might think we don't want you dead" Shadow explained calmly knowing anger would only make more anger.

"Ya well I know what my body can handle" Scourge growled pointing a thumb to himself.

Shadow could honestly agree with that philosophy but then added "She really appreciated what you did for her. Must be confusing for you to suddenly snap at her" he took his leave on those words.

If his words effected him in anyway he didn't show it, but he didn't reply.

Shadow stopped changing subject "Oh and Tails told me that we're going to celebrate in here, so stay and join us or find some other place to heal"

The green hedgehog rolled his eyes at that.

Elsewhere…

Fiona was just waking from her rest, her sore muscles hurting as she got up and stretched.

"Damn… why did we evolve to feel pain?" groaning constantly.

"Because without pain we'd probably have died out a long time ago" she looked over to see Blaze sitting in her bed reading.

The fox almost asked what she meant but then realized what she meant. Without pain you'd do things without concern of pain and probably end up killing yourself going too far.

After the quick thought went through her head she made herself a little more presentable by fixing her fur the best she could and straightening her clothes.

"So Tails mentioned that he had taken our talks of a celebration and decided to go for it" Blaze briefly explained.

"Ya we spoke about it too, he mentioned something about getting an old karaoke machine" Fiona chuckled "Still no idea why that would be among the things in his secret base"

"That is something I am having a hard time figuring out as well" Blaze said "Anyway, he found it. Shadow, Silver and him have been working for awhile on it.

Fiona smirked "Maybe I should go see what they are up to?"

"Go ahead, I'm staying out of their way" she went back to her book.

Fiona began to walk to the rec, her leg stiff.

"Must have pulled something bad when I did that wall jump" she hissed in pain for a moment before continuing.

Walking inside the rec room she found the three men working. The karaoke machines Tails mentioned was just being plugged in by the fox himself. Shadow was looking through the liquor behind the bar for good stuff and Silver was laying out food.

Scourge wasn't around so she guessed he had left while they were doing this.

"Hey you three how are things going?" she leaned against the frame getting off her bad leg for a moment.

Silver smiled "Well I think with the limited supplies we've done pretty good"

"Who cooked all the food?" She asked.

"I did actually, I mean Rosemary helped me a little but I say I did about…. Half of the work" he didn't sound gloaty but it did a raise one question.

"How do you know how to cook?"

Silver chuckled "I've been asked that a few times, it may surprise you but as a kid when I got older I realized something. Every year I was there and not adopted increased my chances of not actually being adopted at all. It's a sad truth but I knew I had to learn to take care of myself. So I talked to one of the caretakers for lessons since she was the cook there" he smiled remembering those days "There was a pretty decent amount of selection, we weren't one of those stereotypical run down places but it still wasn't glamorous. She taught me everything I know" he sighed sadly having grown to like her and knew she was most likely gone.

Fiona tried to stick to the bright side "Well then I'm sure we'll all love it, maybe when this is all over you can offer the same tricks to others who want to learn"

He smiled appreciatively "Maybe, thanks"

Tails came out from behind the TV and said "There done, we're all ready for when we're ready"

Silver smiled glad to hear that "Awesome, just don't expect Shadow to sing"

They all expected Shadow to ignore them but he spoke up from behind the bar "He's got that right"

"Why got a horrible singing voice?" Fiona asked trying to tease him.

Shadow head popped up from behind the wooden counter with two bottle in hand "Yes actually, and besides I don't want to anyway" he placed the bottles on the counter before ducking down again, it allowed everyone to look to one another in amazement that Shadow actually admitted to not being good at something.

They all chuckled while his head was under the counter.

"So Tails any special ones you gonna sing tonight?" Fiona turned to the two tailed fox who was just getting up from his kneeling position.

Tails chuckled and asked while patting his hands together to get rid of dust "What makes you think I'm gonna sing?"

"You set up the thing and brought up the idea" she smirked stating the facts.

He sighed "Ok maybe I'll sing something"

"Give me any hints?" shae gave that basically said 'Come oooooon'

"Nope" he smirked.

"You suck" Fiona pouted crossing her arms.

Tails laughed finding her act funny "You could have been an actor"

"Boring" she replied though was flattered he thought so highly of her acting.

The two foxes were quiet for a moment until Fiona asked "So what happened to Scourge?"

He shrugged "He worked for a few minutes then left"

"Sounds like him" she huffed, but it probably had something to do with his injuries, Tails didn't seem to angry at his absence. Probably for the same reasons.

"I don't care, he isn't causing problems and he's doing his job out there"

Fiona had to admit he was right, he wasn't a big a nuisance as he could and would be "Have you noticed that he and Nicole hang out a lot"

"A little, maybe she just hangs around him and he can't do anything about it cause she's a hologram" Tails shrugged again.

"Also a possibility, but we haven't heard any complaining, except once"

"That is also true" Tails said tapping his chin "But leave them be, if what they are doing is working then let them be"

"Anyway how can I help?" she asked wanting to get to work despite her sore leg.

Elsewhere, one hour later…

Scourge was sitting in the small cell he'd been originally locked up in. He wanted to get away from everyone and Blaze was in the actual sleeping area. He had rested for a bit he sat up on the bed now.

He wouldn't admit it but Shadows final words did get to him a bit. He lashed out at people offering help. Maybe it was because he felt like after pushing himself past his own limit to help someone he was trying to avoid being asked why. It was clearly apparent to everyone that Scourge wasn't thrilled about his situation. Then again nobody liked their situation, living in a hellscape and the last hope of their world. He knew he only added to their stress.

Nicole seemed to be handling it better than most, tension was high even if everyone was joking around. One minor problem could send people into a fit, like he had a earlier. The only indication she was having a hard time we after telling her the fate of all her friends. She broke down and cried for a short time but quickly gained her composure and after that hadn't shown any sign of emotional distress or anger.

Scourge sighed thinking about it, he truly had been a jerk.

Something told him he needed to do something so he slowly got up, a lot of effort went into getting up just right to feel the least amount of pain. After that he walked outside and looked around, he hoped Nicole would be walking around for him to find but so he couldn't see her. He couldn't hear her voice either, the four inside the rec room filled up all the sound.

So instead he walked to the nearest camera and waved at it to catch her attention.

Within a moment her hologram flickered to life in front of him giving off the small light like always.

He expected a small like she always seemed to carry but to his surprise he saw caution and an air of reservation. He felt bad that he personally made her act differently…. By why?

"Is something hurting?" she asked.

He shook his head "Nothing worse than before" actually everything was even more sore now that he'd stopped moving as much but that wasn't important.

"Oh, feeling dizzy perhaps?"

"No it's nothing like that I just wanted to say…." He mumbled something prompting Nicole to ask him to speak up.

"I said…. I'm… sorry" he looked away avoiding her stare, he was sure she didn't care for his apology, hell he wouldn't.

But she stayed quiet and it soon forced him to look at her again. Unexpectedly he felt a little better, a small warmth in his chest seeing her reserved face turn into a small thankful smile.

"It's alright, I understand you need space, but thank you for apologizing anyway" her smile grew showing she really appreciated the effort.

Scourge nodded looking away feeling uncomfortable but found himself reaching for him back to try and fix some pain back there.

Near immediately Nicoles smile turned to concern and asked "Scourge, would you mind if I gave you that back rub I promised before?"

He stopped for a moment forgetting he'd agreed to that, probably because he was half awake at the time. He gulped suddenly at the idea "Uhh…. Sure, what harm could do" if she did it wrong could be a lot.

"Just give a me a minute" she said brightening up even more, which surprisingly he found nice.

Her hologram flickered off and within a few seconds she appeared walking out of the control room holding her PDA.

"Where you like to lie down?"

"Uhhh" he suddenly felt a little nervous "Guess my cell bed" that was secluded, nobody would be there.

She gave him a smile and he led her to the small cell.

"If you would please remove your jacket and lie down on your stomach" she requested.

He sighed, if anyone came in and saw them he'd never heard the end of it. He did as she asked exposing the bruises along his body. More surprisingly was besides his two signature scares on his chest were some less visible ones in various places. Most were small and unnoticeable if not for Nicoles enhanced vision. One stuck out, it was in the exact same spot on his arm where a patch job had been made on his jacket.

She didn't comment on them as he layed down.

"Do you even know what you're doing?" he asked suddenly wanting to get out of this with any excuse.

"Of course, you'll be surprised how easy it is to learn when you're alone searching the web on your free time" she clapped her hands together and rubbed them together.

"But this is the first time I've actually done this" she added.

He simply gulped praying for his back.

As she began she was just a feel of his back and figuring out what needed help, most of it did actually.

"Hmmm, ok I apologize but occasionally this might hurt for a moment but then it will feel much better right after"

"What do you mean by that… AHH" felt a quick pang of pain in his back but then a heavily satisfied sigh escaped his maw as it became a soothing looseness he hadn't felt in his back for ages.

"That's what I mean" she giggled.

He just smiled in response and allowed her to continue, he truly hoped his scream of pain wouldn't attract attention.

He had to admit he liked her paws on his back, especially since they were fixing his back, which was overdue for some help anyway. He could already feel his entire body relaxing as she continued to work. Apparently she found it amusing and giggled again.

"I didn't think I'd be this good" She said.

He sighed in bliss as his answer earning yet another giggle making his ear twitch a little.

Sadly for both of them Other people had heard the yelp of pain and around the corner Fiona had taken the liberty of checking it out and was not disappointed with what she saw. She just barely held back laughter as she went back to the rec room.

She stayed quiet and motioned for everyone to get close. To say everyone was confused by her amused face after hearing someone yell in pain was an understatement, but they wouldn't be confused for long.

"Guys you should have it, Scourge is a getting a full back rub from Nicole right now" she snickered trying to hold back laughter.

"He is, no way" Silver said stunned.

Next to him Shadow thought back to what he said to Scourge and wondered if that had anything to do with it.

Tails gave an amused face but said "Well she did offer to take care of him, maybe his back is hurting more than he originally let on?"

"No, no, no, he wouldn't let anyone do that, not even me back then…. If I knew how to do that" Fiona explained.

Silver shrugged "It's been two years since then, he's apparently had no friends since then to help him, maybe he just wants a friend again?"

"Doubt it" Fiona stated plainly "He's more than likely trying to make her like him and use her for stuff like that, or even more"

Shadow rolled his eyes "She always approached him so far, he wanted her gone earlier"

"I think like a girl, a guy letting go of his pride to apologize is admirable in some cases"

Tails butt in "Technically she doesn't think the same as you, she's still a computer with logical thought and isn't easily fooled by such tropes because she grew up differently than you. She knows what she's doing and I trust her. SO leave them be" he didn't want any hostility right now. It was nearly time to celebrate and have fun, no need for Fiona to start up trouble none of even knew was real. Nicole was happy and Scourge wasn't being shifty so far, he saw no reason to react.

Everyone agreed. Fiona seemed to think clearly and agreed fully.

Another few minutes past, and a few pained yelped from Scourge but Blaze walked in.

"What the heck is that loud screaming?"

Silver explained before anyone else could speak "Nicole is giving Scourge a back rub to ease his pain, he must be really knotted up there"

"Oh, I see. Anyway, are we going to get started?" the cat asked.

"Of course!" Silver said possibly a little over enthusiastic.

Shadow sighed cupping his face with his hand, but Blaze seemed to like his excitement and smiled walking with him further into the room.

Tails just shrugged not sure how Silvers loud and excited demeanor appealed to the conservative cat. Either way he turned to Fiona and asked "So wanna start with some drinks?"

…. Some time later…

One hour into the party everyone was inside now. Scourge and Nicole joined within fifteen minutes of it starting. Everyone noticed that Scourge was standing up a bit more straight than before the back rub. Nicole must have done very well.

Silver introduced Blaze to games during that time and despite having a hard time adjusting to the controls the male was able to pick up the slack. She seemed to actually have fun despite being somewhat terrible.

Either way most of the time Shadow watched from across the room, it was probably the most amusing thing going on, seeing Silver be surprisingly cool headed.

Scourge was with Shadow at the bar, they didn't talk too much. Shadow liked that, Scourge and him seemed to understand the worth of just staying quiet. Although Scourge drank more than watched. Nicole spoke with him for a but nothing important. She left though to speak with Rosemary feeling like she might feel left out.

Besides that Tails and Fiona sat and talked, both were maybe on their second or third drink. They mostly talked of unimportant stuff, Tails mostly talked about stuff he'd done in the past and things he planned to build in the future. She seemed content with just listening and commenting on what he said every so often.

"SO when am I gonna hear that singing voice of yours?" Fiona suddenly asked.

Apparently her question was unexpected, the kitsunes looking surprised "Oh I nearly forgot…. Soon I guess?"

"No way, come on get up there, before you 'forget' again" she chuckled.

He sighed and got up taking one last drink for courage and went to the TV and was about to kick the hedgehog and cat off when Rosemary's voice came over the intercom "Everyone you might want to come to the control room, it's important"

"What?" Tails quickly turned and walked out to the control room. Fiona was first follow with everyone else trailing behind.

Inside Tails was already in his seat looking to the screens. The other Mobians filed in standing behind him.

"What's going on mom?"

"I was nearly done deciphering through the completed codes we retrieved when an open transmission was sent in our general area, it's Eggman and he has something to say"

They stayed quiet waiting for it to play…

It began and Eggman appeared on screen, he hadn't changed much since two years ago. But the very sight of him made Blaze growl in the back of her throat, Silver looked to her quickly and gently placed a hand on her shoulder, it was enough to calm her.

"Hello pests, it seems you blew up my factory, bravo" he mockingly cheered doing a slow clap "But I'm sad to inform you that you become more than just pests but are now a nuisance. Listen closely you rodents. I am a kind and forgiving man…" a loud groan escaped everyone hearing that "So I will give you one chance to end this little…. Whatever it is keep your miserable lives, all I ask is you hand over the last chaos emerald" he grinned evilly.

"Never!" Shadow yelled.

"Now I know this is a hard decision so I will allow you a few days to decide. Have a nice day" he mockingly ended with a fake smile and wave. Then the transmission ended.

"I am not giving him the emerald!" Shadow growled.

"None of us want that either, we're not doing that. If he's trying to make deals with us it's either to trick us or a desperate attempt to make us stop cause we're more of a threat than he's letting on" Tails explained, everyone agreed with his theory.

Shadow was still tense at the thought of giving Eggman the emerald but was glad everyone agreed it was stupid, even Scourge.

"So I assume you want me to finish decrypting the codes and get those coordinates?" Rosemary asked.

"Yes please mom, that'd be great" he smiled.

"It will be done by morning then" the motherly voice said.

With that surprisingly large interruption over everyone thought about getting back to celebrating but, hearing Eggman and his threat kept everyone too tense. Guess he ruined the night. Time to sleep.

Fiona was already getting ready to sleep taking off her boots and sighed "I was really looking forward to hearing you sing you know that?" she looked up at him as she her boot jerked off her foot.

Tails just chuckled sitting on his bed and doing the same "Maybe next time"

She smiled at the idea and watched as he took off his shirt as well. Damn was she so obviously staring, no subtly at all.

He noticed jokingly said to break her gaze "You if you stare anymore I might want some compensation" his tone was playful thankfully, he was trying to hold back a blush.

Fiona just nervously chuckled "Ah, sorry about that. It just amazes me how much you've grown since back then"

"Thanks, this may not sound as much like a compliment as yours but you still look like you did back then" he looked away nervously.

Fiona heard it come out and despite her laugh it was one of the best compliments she ad in a long time "Wow really, don't look any older, that's awesome"

Tails blushed and smiled "Well anyway, rest up you earned it" he quickly fell back to bed and turned to face away so his face could finally break into a full blush and wide eyes.

Fiona just smiled with amusement guessing that's what was happening and went to sleep as well feeling a little more at ease from her friends words.

 **Ok so sorry for the long wait I was kinda mentally blocked. Then I got sick was down for over a week. And something else but I'll keep quiet about that cause it's private. Plus the work gave m probably the worst work schedule. Let's just say not one day was the same start time, so one was a morning shift followed by a night shift followed by an afternnon shift and so on…. God I'm so exhausted.**

 **Anyway that's about it except maybe the battleborn beta took a lot of my time over the weekend.**

 **Also if there's some more errors than I apologize, I wrote this early in the morning after an afternoon shift. Usually I sleep as soon as I get home but instead I have to re-adjust to a night shift time I have to stay awake until around4-6 am. Let's just say I've been up since…. 8 am the day before. This isn't even the worst, a morning to night shift is so much harder, to properly adjust I need to be awake for like 28 hours straight which I've done twice this week week now…. I'm so tired so please cut me some slack this once.**

 **Live long and prosper**

 **Admiralkirk**


	25. New enemy

**A/N Ok next chapter hope that last one was a nice character chapter. I was hoping a lot of talking would help things out. For stuff later. I'm pretty sure you can tell what I'm doing with Scourge and Nicole by now and I hope nobody thinks it's dumb or anything I just needed to give Scourge someone to interact with work with and bond with. Anyway here's the next chapter, that hard week of work I mentioned last chapter I got through the last odd shift before getting back to normal times and my whole body is sore. I hate that spot of the plant, so bad for my back. Also sorry about that kinda tease of Tails about to sing, I wanted to have Silver and Blaze sing but I just couldn't find a song and felt that you guys might not appreciate songs anyway. So I got over it and get with what I wanted to do, sorry if someone didn't like that. Enough whining, let's see what happens!**

Like Rosemary had predicted she was done in the middle of the night and let everyone sleep. Instead of heading over immediately Tails decided to hold back a few days to allow Scourge to heal. He must have been hurt a lot in the past or was naturally able to heal quickly was pretty much back to one hundred percent in a couple days.

Everyone noticed Scourge was much happier with Nicole around, or atleast just decided to accept she wanted to be by his side and help him. After the back rub he was generally fine though and was self-sufficient.

Besides that Tails decided to use the waiting time to help with their issue of constantly being surrounded. It wasn't as bad as before but there were blips all over his radar, he feared that wasn't all of them. Ever since they encountered the stealth bots he'd been worried of other eggbots with enhanced abilities, like anti radar.

To combat this Tails had everyone go out and either destroy the eggbots or lure them away and make them think the base was a mile or two away. By the time Scourge had healed the radar screen was nearly completely empty. He was happy for that. They now had a lot of breathing for for now.

With Scourge healed that also meant it was time to investigate the coordinates.

Everyone suited up with their equipment and headed out.

The coordinates were about half a day away to the south east.

What they found was, nothing, just flat ground in all directions.

"This can't be right" Silver looked confused.

"It has to be, why would these numbers send us to the middle of nowhere" Tails mumbled to himself. He went to the exact spot the coordinates were in the flat expanse and kicked around the dirt and ash thinking maybe it was an entrance under ground.

Around him everyone took the cue and dug around as well but so far found nothing.

Scourge began to complain "Hey listen I could be resting instead of kicking dirt"

Silver kicked at the dirt sighing totally bored "I hate to admit it but this seems pointle-" his foot hit something solid made of metal causing a higher pitch 'ping' noise fill the air.

The noise made everyone turn to face the white hedgehog and where his foot was.

"Good job Sil-" before Tails could congratulate him the ground under Silver erupted up.

It caused Silver to be launched into the air several feet and land on his back with a loud "oof" He landed near Blaze who kneeled down to help him up. As he was midway sitting up everyone looked to what caused it.

To their horror it was a large eggbot that he erupted from the ground. It looked at all the Mobins around it and made a small beep.

The ground rumbled making them all stumbled around trying to catch their balance. All around them more eggbots of different sizes all crawled from the earth.

It was then they all realized what was happening, it was a trap, they had walked right into it. It was now time to fight for their lives.

Silver got to his feet and everyone got ready but the first eggbot to erupt from the ground suddenly spoke, with Eggmans voice.

"Hello rat pack. It seems you took the bait, but lucky for you I my offer still stand. Hand over the emerald and you will escape with your lives" he laughed knowing he by the metaphorical throat.

"Never!" Shadow yelled.

"What? He's got us surrounded!" Scourge argued. No one surprised by him.

Tails looked to the green hedgehog "We can't let him have it, with it he'll be unstoppable"

"Ya, but we'll still be alive!" He growled feeling it was obvious.

"The answer will always be no" Shadow growled.

Scourge was about to say something but Nicoles eyes caught his own. He sighed and knew he had no choice but to follow them and got ready to fight.

Eggmans voice sounded annoyed but at the same time happy at the same time "Very well then, destroy them my minions!"

All guns trained on them and prepared to fire and kill them all.

Wise eyed they stared into their demise and the first shot fired…. Then the rest.

All flinched at the sound but nothing came. Tails opened his eyes to see a green glow. He looked up and saw a green bubble around them.

"Silver!" he turned to see the white hedgehogs hands outstretched to the left and right, hands glowing intensely.

"Alright Blaze, do it" he grunted to the cat who nodded.

"I really hope I can keep control" she mumbled hands igniting with fire "Get close to us" she ordered.

Her teammates took her advice and walked to her as she raised both hands straight up and fire began to shoot to the top of the psychic dome. Once it reach the top it spread outwards travelling along the walls slowly shaping into the domes shape.

Her friends all stood in silence and awe, the display was beautiful and powerful at the same time.

Once the flame reached the floor Blaze grunted trying to keep control. The fire began to swirl around the dome somewhat like a tornado and gaining speed. The heat was rising inside, but whatever she had planned wouldn't take too long.

The fire sped up to extreme level and Blaze grunted out "Now Silver!"

Silver stopped channeling the dome as Blaze outstretched her hands swiftly to the left and right causing the fire to explode outwards. The fire exploded in all directions blasting away the eggbots near them either frying them or heavily damaging them.

As soon as the fire blasted outwards everyone get to work and ran to fight.

Scourge dashed to Nicole grabbing her PDA to keep her safe then rocketed off.

Killing off those first few eggbots only caused more to erupt from the ground. With every bot destroyed two seemed to arise.

With his stealth Tails avoided most of the eggbots optics and quickly went to work spending the two charges of his electro gauntlets and kept moving to charge them. During the charge times he helped anyone he could either by being a distraction or taking out any robot that had a chance to hurt his friends.

Fiona kept on the movie her agility was her best ally in this fight. Being constantly on the move ruined her accuracy so she was able to make precision shots like normal. She still managed to be effective and put in work. While running an eggbot erupted from the ground in her path so she jumped and vaulted off the head. Flipping upside down she shot a clean shot through the back of the head and landed gracefully and kept on the move.

Shadows speed kept him pretty much safe, of everyone he was doing the most work. Not that he was paying attention to the body count. All he needed to know was his friends were still alive and if they got in trouble he was enough to respond. His chaos powers kept him safe and made him twice as deadly. Sending chaos spears into enemies was easy and effective, but they just kept coming.

Scourge, like Shadow kept fast and aggressive, smashing whatever he could with his natural abilities and using his shotgun when needed. He may not have noticed but once or twice an eggbot had him trained in their sight and the small laser on Nicoles PDA would fire and knock out an optic and save him.

Blaze stayed close to Silver, the hit he took before the fight even began concerned her. Together with their combined powers they easily handled any enemy that came. Silver saw Blaze fail to use her powers and would always be there to help her with either a shield or taking out her target for her. They worked together so well when Blaze failed to use her powers as intended she didn't even stop knowing Silver had her back.

The team actually began to weaken down their numbers as it finally looked like they'd finally revealed all the eggbots that were hidden.

Silver cheered noticing this and sent two eggbots together smashing them together.

Tails finished off the last eggbot with a electro gauntlet and panted. He looked around seeing everyone had made it, in fact nobody had been hurt, besides Silvers minor injuries.

"Good job guys…. I'm sorry I-"

The sounds of jets filled their air. A loud swoosh and finally a tons of dust exploding in all directions blinding the team while it settled.

"What the hell was that?" Scourge yelled.

Nicole materialized in response next to him, her form unaffected by dust in her eyes so she looked out trying to figure out what did it.

Before she could learn what happened the sound of a grunt was heard and a yelp followed by the sound of someone sliding along the ground.

"Silver!" it sounded like Blaze.

The dust finally cleared enough to see and everyone finally saw what kicked up the dust storm.

"It's a metal Sonic!" Tails yelled instantly recognizing it. Seems it had some upgrades since last time he saw it.

Instead of the small frail arms and legs and head that resembled Sonic when he was younger it matches the older Sonic much better. It had further swepted back quills, and taller more mature physique. It also still kept those large claws. It still had that engine in the back and turbine in the front, the shoes looked like Sonics actual shoes but the heel had extra components, he guessed more jets.

More importantly was what the Metal Sonic was doing. He held Silver by the throat easily holding him up off his feet. The white hedgehog was choking trying to use his powers but somehow it wasn't affecting the robot. In fact he when he tried he would scream in pain.

"Get the hell away from him!" Growled Shadow taking a threatening step forward and readying a chaos spear.

The metal Sonic looked to him and only chuckled squeezing tighter on the young males neck.

"No stop!" Blaze's hands lit up with flame ready to torch it.

It's response was to squeeze more.

Blaze was about to fire in retaliation but the robot put Silver in between it and Blaze forcing her to stop.

The sound of laughter filled their ears, it came from the Metal Sonic who loosened his grip on Silvers throat but then pushed it's other hands claws into the hedgehogs chest, non were fatal or too deep but it caused Silver to cry out in pain.

Shadow dashed forward but the robot was to fast and using Silver smashed Shadow away, the dark hedgehog slid to a stop as the metal sonic threw Silver to the ground and stomped on his chest further angering everyone.

It just laughed at them all further taunting them all.

Tails appeared behind it from his cloak and grabbed its back shock gauntlet active. It discharged but nothing happened.

"What?" It seemed it was immune to being overloaded.

It's head slowly turned to face Tails before back handing him away and burst after him. Before he could even hit the ground the robot caught him by the collar and prepared to further its assault had it not been for a bullet hitting it in the back. It left a small dent but no real damage.

"Let him go!' Fiona yelled.

When it didn't and Tails' struggles were in vain Fiona fired a few more shots.

The robot threw Tails forward turned raised its palm creating a green disc shield that stopped the bullets.

Tails got to his feet and was about to pounce at the turned sonic but it burst forward and the force of its engines sent Tails flying back to the ground.

The Metal Sonic nearly reached Fiona who flinched, but Blaze was quick enough to send a large fireball in it's way. They collided sending the metal sonic off track and barely missing the fox as it flew by.

It looked unhurt by her attack; it's armor looking undamaged.

It was about then they all heard another larger engine in the distance approaching. As Tails got up again he looked to the horizon and saw a massive airship approaching, the doors slowly opening revealing hundreds of eggbots ready to drop.

"We need to get out of this fast" Tails warned.

The Metal Sonic recovered flying towards Tails planning to shut him up. Sadly for the metal sonic Shadow was just as fast and teleported in front of him and kicked him away sending the robot careening off to the side again.

"Silver!? Are you able enough to make a shield again?" the dark hedgehog looked to his younger friend who was just starting to get up. How he managed to even stay conscious after that beating was a mystery. His hardheaded thinking and inexperience seemed to help them today.

"I…. I…. maybe?" he groaned trying to stand Blaze helping him to his feet.

"It's the best I can think of, we-" he was interrupted again by the metal sonic which successfully caught him off guard flying in and head butting him right in the gut.

The dark hedgehog grunted in pain as the robot sent him along.

"You're gonna regret that" Shadow coughed.

Charging up a chaos empowered punch to smash through it's head he swung down likea hammer. But the sonic stopped, but Shadow kept going. He skid along the ground kicking up dirt and ripping out some of his fur from the extreme speed.

"Dammit" he hissed getting up once he came to a stop.

His reflexes were fast enough to dodge the incoming robot, he spun around and threw a chaos bolt then ran back to his companions feeling fire in his chest, a feeling he hadn't used in a long time.

He could already hear the engine of the metal sonic on his tail so used his ear bud to warn his friends.

"Get all together and Silver get that shield ready, if not then I will kill you all" it was desperate but they had no more time left. With Silver there was no guarantee he could hold up his powers for much longer, meaning if they ran they'd leave him and Fiona in the dust. He wasn't ready to make that hard descision for the group and he doubted Tails was any more qualified than him.

Before anyone could object to his seemingly dangerous suggestion he cut the radio and hoped to chaos that Silver had the strength to make the shield.

He saw the ship in the distance now dropping tons of eggbots, and his friends fighting them off. He was sure they'd be overrun, especially with this new and improved metal Sonic in the fray. They had no chance in a straight up fight with Silver down.

He was glad to see they were grouping up but now were the precious seconds where either he'd make it in time or an eggbot would score a hit. No time to think about such disastrous outcomes, only think about your anger. He let his blood boil with rage he'd not felt in a long time and his body shimmered with red power. The chaos emerald in his pocket glowed and intensified, he could almost feel the raw chaos energy inside.

"SILVER NOW!"

Sliding to a stop Shadow floated in the air pulsing with negative chaos energy. All the energy attracted the attention of the eggbots which shot at him. Their bullets either bounced off or disintegrated against his chaos shield.

Tails gasped knowing exactly what he was doing "Got to do it now Silver!"

The white hedgehog groaned, his body protesting every movement, but he knew whatever was happening he had to be able to save them. His hands glowed and flickered until as Shadow started breathing out the words he managed to open up a shield to save them, it was barely big enough to hold them.

The metal Sonic closed in but saw what was happening too and suddenly turned around entirely to try and escape, it more than likely would with its speed.

"CHAOS BLAST!"

Shadow erupted with his overflowing energy, the wave spreading and safely passing over Silvers shield, it flickered an ended Justas it passed and Silver passed out. The wave continued to the eggbots disintegrating them with ease. Continuing even further it rammed into the side of the drop ship and slowly but surely sent what hadn't been fully disintegrated to the ground and crashed.

It kicked up so much dust but luckily had been far enough away to not kick it up near the group.

Shadow panted heavily and looked to where his friends had been, he was thankful to see them still alive, but frowned seeing the unconscious Silver.

Tails quickly took charge while everyone still looked in shock. Shadow held so much power at his finger tips, the only thing holding him back from being a unstoppable mobile mini nuke was that he got tired so quickly from it.

"Scourge help me lifted Silver we need to get out of here now" Tails commanded, Scourge normally would have argued or atleast made a comment but the show of power and situation kept him quiet as he helped the fox.

"Now come on, before that Metal Sonic returns" he flicked his head in the general direction of the base and the group headed off. In the distance Shadows chaos wave was finally dissipating meaning they didn't have much time to get away from this place.

The team started to run as fast as they could with the unconscious Silver. Blaze kept a careful eye out for the Metal Sonic, her keen cat eyes giving her the best vision. Although it was clearly obvious she wished to watch over Silver.

Fiona on the other hand kept looking to Tails for any sign of pain, the robot had attacked him after Silver. Even if it was just a backhand. She could see his cheek hand opened up with some blood in his fur but it already closed. She also noticed the backdraft from its engines had singed his armor a little.

Shadow was trying not to look tired but he was failing. His normal stride was now ever so slightly hindered and his feet dragged once in awhile. He was also trying to hide some heavy breathing.

So far the sonic hadn't come back. They'd all agreed that it must be a massive stroke of luck. So their guards slowly dropped the closer they got back home.

"I am sorry for using such extreme measures" Shadow said making sure to breath before and after ending to better hide his panting.

"No, it was the only option left I can see in retrospect" the two tailed fox was just happy they were all out of there and able to fight another day, well atleast everyone but Silver.

"I could have killed you all"

Blaze spoke up "No, you trusted Silver to pull through and he did, now we need to pull through for him" concern for the hedgehog heavily apparent.

"If we get him back, Mom can patch him up, none of those stab wounds are fatal" Tails took a quick moment to observe the damage. But saying he was stabbed made Blaze gulp.

The rest of the run back home was fairly quiet besides the occasional grunt. Like they hoped the metal sonic had seemed to retreat.

They got back inside and blood from Silvers wounds now covered his chest. They'd been slow bleeds but the time it took to get back soaked his fur.

"Mom, Silver is in bad shape, got to help him out" Tails called, he and Scourge brought Silver into the infirmary and placed him on the medical table while the arms powered up and began work.

Outside Fiona looked to Blaze who was trying hard not to look worried. But her swishing tail ruined tail.

"He's gonna be ok, I'm sure Rosemary will get him back on his feet" Fiona smiled comfortingly.

"Thank you, I'm glad we all made it out alive" Blaze seemingly forced a smile.

"I'm sure Shadow is just as glad for that too" she looked to the dark hedgehog who was a little bit away. He hid it much better but he was worried for his younger friend.

Blaze just nodded getting her composure back as Scourge and Tails came out.

"Alright Mom says he'll be fine, just needs to patch him up and give him time" Tails let a relieved smile spread across his face.

Whatever composure Blaze had regained disappeared as she sighed in relief.

Tails and Fiona smiled as she did this and Shadow finally walked away hearing that news confident in Rosemary's abilities.

Scourge made his way to the control room to plug Nicole back in. As he lifted the small device her head materialized "Are you alright?" she asked.

"Ya I didn't get hurt this time" he plugged in the device and walked outside finding Nicole already waiting.

"We need to be ready next time we meet that thing"

"Ya" Scourge grunted out.

"I know you'll be able to fight him, you can match his speed" she smiled encouragingly.

"Even though I like what you're saying I have to admit I can't fly"

The lynx had to agree with that obvious observation "Then we'll have to force him down"

"Bet pipsqueak will figure something out for that problem" Scourge huffed.

"I'm sure he will" she smiled back.

Taill took a moment to speak with Shadow, he noticed a few things about the metal sonic and he was sure Shadow noticed them too.

"So that robot, notice anything special about it?"

The dark hedgehog nodded "I did"

He began listing "Bullet proof from atleast small arms fire, shield palms and selective targeting meaning it has a portion of free will"

The fox nodded "I also noticed self preservation, it quickly left once you started charging chaos blast" just another showing of it's potential free will, usually Metal Sonics in the past didn't care about survival, there was always another to replace them.

"lastly" Shadow put special emphasis "Did you notice when Silver tried to use his powers on it he got hurt somehow?"

"It must have a counter measure to his powers, that's a huge advantage, especially if it hurts Silver" Tails was already trying to think of solutions.

"For now rest, it was a hard fight, we'll see him later"

Tails nodded, on that they could both agree, they'd undoubtedly not seen the last of this new unpredictable enemy.

The yellow fox found Fiona already had the same idea and was taking a nap. His were distracted from her to Blaze who still looked worried trying to read.

"Blaze you alright?"

"I am fine, you should rest" usually she was well composed but her demeanor wasn't very well kept hidden.

"Worried about Silver? Mom said he'd be fine, he just needs time to recover, in fact she said Silver could be up by tomorrow if he wants to" Tails explained his moms words more specifically.

"Truly?" she asked surprised "He was hurt bad, he would need a few days of rest?"

The fox shrugged "What can I say, this place has the best the government could offer before everything went down. That includes our medical supplies"

Blaze smiled a little "Well, good. It will be good to see him back on his feet so soon"

"I'm sure he'll enjoy seeing you are fine as well" he gave a quick wink before heading off to go sleep as well.

Behind him Blaze continued to smile and was able to actually concentrate and read until she went to sleep as well.

 **Ah so that's this chapter down, honestly this was hard to write besides the fight scene. Work has not been kind to me lately and it's making me exhausted, any free time I have is either trying to stay awake to reset to a new sleeping time for my constantly changing start times or playing new games like Doom, Battleborn, Overwatch beta, and revisiting DA Inqusition.**

 **Oh and don't forget to check out my other stuff, besides this I recently added a new Shadamy short to my Shadamy shorts collection so give that a whirl if that's your thing.**

 **Live long and prosper**

 **Admiralkirk**


	26. Let go and run

**A/N Hey here's another chapter. So here's another chapter and I hope it will be…. Exciting. If this is late refer to my other crappy excuses.**

"So anything on the radar?" Tails asked wiping sand from his eyes, in his hands some coffee.

"None more than normal dear" Rosemary replied "Did you sleep well?"

"As good as always when I get beat up" he sipped his coffee wishing the numbness would go away.

"If I could kiss it better I would" the female voice chuckled.

It made Tails smiled as well but then frown knowing he needed to say something to about that statement "You know even if you are a computer you will always be my mom"

"I know sweetums, but it's nice to hear you say it"

"I Love you mom I know I don't show it enough with me muting you and all that but I wouldn't trade you for anything" he smiled and took another sip letting the moment pass.

"Anyway, how's Silver?"

"He actually woke up half an hour ago, I called Blaze to go talk to him while he fully wakes up" a slight tone in her voice gave away the reason for sending Blaze in particular.

In the med room…

Silver layed on a small bed, bandages were around his chest where the Metal Sonics claws pieced his body, some band aids were on his lesser scratches and a wet cloth on his forehead

"I hope you are feeling better" Blaze smiled next to Silvers bed.

"I'd almost trade death over all this pain, almost. Rosemary gave me some meds to dull the pain and should take over in a minute" he tried to grin but even that hurt.

"She also said you'd be walking in a bit, specifically today after you've woken up entirely"

"Thank chaos, I couldn't stay cooped up in here, I doubt I'll be doing much though?" he was just glad to be out of here soon.

"Do not worry, I will watch over you while you heal" Blaze smiled kindly.

Silver blushed lightly and coyly stammered "W-well… y-you don't have to, I'm sure Nicole would be able to handle any problems"

"She has her hands busy keeping Scourge company, besides I enjoy our talks"

"Really? I usually talk to Shadow and most of the time he zones me out and I babble on and on"

"I'm sure he listens, perhaps he feels he doesn't need to speak back and you just need someone to speak to" her reasoning was pretty sound, Shadow deceptively knew a lot about the Mobian psyche and how to handle emotional matters despite his own emotional problems. The question was if he cared enough about you to help or ignore.

"Maybe, he surprises me once in awhile"

"He does that to anyone who takes the effort to crack his walls " she'd known the hedgehog for awhile during on and off encounters. Over time he became more talkative as Blaze showed no unwarranted negative feelings towards him. They also shared the unique similarity of having powers most or nobody had at all.

"I'm sure he didn't make much of a fuss over me right?" he wasn't offended, he knew Shadow was quiet and only showed concern when it was truly required.

"He didn't visually uninterested, but he gave his concern subtly , trust me, until Rosemary said you'd heal back perfectly fine he was worried" The cat had a sly smile having learned his tells over the years.

"I obviously don't know him as well as you" Silver chuckled but liked hearing that his older friend actually cared.

"I may know more about him but you spent two years with him near constantly, you know things in those two years none of us know, and you may be the closest person to Shadow as well. You're his partner and friend, he doesn't show it but I guarantee he trust you more than the rest of us"

Silver guessed what she said was reasonable and nodded slightly "I hope I didn't scare anyone else"

Blaze frowned "Ya had us all worried, I was right beside you when that Metal Sonic attacked, I could have done something, I apologize for my lack of focus" she averted her eyes from him feeling ashamed for letting her guard down in such an obvious attack.

"Hey, don't be so hard on yourself, we're not perfect. We'd fought an intense battle and that dust covered our eyes, how could you have guessed that it would attack me first?" he hoped his voice wasn't too low to keep his compassion out of his voice.

She gently smiled looking at him again "Thank you, I must remember that even with all my training I can't predict everything, as long as we all made it out I am happy. I just wish it hadn't cost you so much"

"No worries, I'm still breathing, and without robot assistance at that, just give me a day or two and I'll be back up to tip top shape, you'll see. I'm glad it didn't hurt you" he blushed at the end realizing he spoke too long.

"Not to sound rude but I glad for that as well, and I'm glad for your concern" she just barely blushed and her tail flicked behind her, Silver in such a state didn't notice in the slightest.

"Oh hey, great teamwork too. We were perfectly synced through that fight until the Metal Sonic appeared"

"Ye swe were quite formidable weren't we?" Blaze smiled.

Then her smile turned to a more appreciative smile "Had it not been for you we'd have all joined the ash as well"

"What?" he looked confused.

"Do you not remember, Shadow saw no other option besides using a chaos blast, he asked you to shield us with the last of your strength, you just barely made a barrier as he fired and held it just long enough to keep us safe then passed out?"

"No I don't remember any of that, maybe my head shut down sort of?" Silver shrugged.

"If you can't remember it then perhaps you are right, but still, we are alive because of you" her smile was still appreciative.

He just blushed again "I do what I can, even if I don't know I'm doing it, so I assume it vaporized the Metal Sonic?" he smiled hopeful until Blazes frown said otherwise "It escaped didn't it?"

"Unfortunately yes, it didn't follow us though, it seems we lost it"

"Thank Chaos" Silver mumbled "I do remember trying to use my powers on it then feeling intense pain in my head. Like a thousand headaches at once" he cringed remembering it.

"Tails and Shadow noticed to and spoke to us about it when we woke up, they are guessing your powers will be ineffective to directly use on it. But that doesn't stop you from using the environment to your advantage"

"I'll keep that in mind" Silver frowned realizing he'd lost half his usefulness if they fought it again, what if it could walk through his shields?"

"But let's not think of such things" Blaze chimed up "Perhaps I owe you a reward for saving us all?"

"Like… what kind of reward?" he asked expecting her to just watch over him like she had said before.

"First I will take care of you for today and possibly for as long as Rosemary says…..." She leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek "And that" she blushed hard almost seeing through her fur.

The same could be said for Silver who instantly lost all sense and froze.

Blaze tried hard to not giggle but failed "I am sorry, I did not mean to break you"

"What no! I'm not broken… I…." he then mumbled to himself knowing that sounded foolish "Obviously that didn't break me, stupid"

Blaze just giggled again "Well I apologize anyway"

Her giggling was a little infectious and despite the pain it brought Silver managed a few nervous chuckles.

As they quieted down Rosemary's voice came "I think he's about ready to walk around, give him some breakfast, softer foods please"

"I understand" Blaze nodded then got up from the chair next to the bed and helped him to his feet, quite slow and carefully "Can you stand on your own?"

"Give me a second… maybe, stay close incase I fall" Silver said legs wobbly.

Blaze had no problem agreeing to that and helped him hobble along and outside the room to get something to eat.

In the small kitchen Scourge was making some breakfast for himself, Nicole not too far by watching him. Hearing two people approaching her eyes went to the door and smiled seeing Silver and Blaze.

"Silver, you are back on your feet?"

Scourge turned a bit to see as well but got back to work.

"Ya, Rosemary said I'm gonna live, you can all calm down now" he jokingly replied.

The lynx was glad to see his humor hadn't left him "I assume you are hear for breakfast?"

"Can't live on painkillers can I?" he chuckled getting help from Blaze to sit at the small table in the middle of the room.

"That is true" the lynx confirmed.

Blaze got to work making something for Silver, some pourage was a nice soft and warm meal for him.

"Hey Weed Head" Scourge said walking to the table with his plate of food "You better watch out next time, I should know, the hits don't get any lighter"

"I'll keep that in mind" he didn't quite like the name but atleast it wasn't an insult or sarcasm.

Scourge just got to eating seemingly done speaking, but his small peace of advice seemed to show he had a modicum of respect for the younger hedgehog.

"Do we have any plans to take that thing down?" Silver asked.

Nicole answered "Not many, it's EMP proof, psychic proof, has built in shields, armor that protects from small arms fire atleast, has the speed of Scourge and Shadow, enhanced strength. It oddly has self preservation in its programming though, unlike normal ones which would just self destruct in a no win situation"

"What she's trying to say is we have damn near no weapons to fight besides blunt force" Scourge added "And it's too fast to reliably do that either"

"Well…. Guess we got quite the boss fight ahead of us" Silver said trying to be a little funny, but the gravity of the situation made that impossible.

"We can't even avoid it. Like Shadow and Scourge its so fast it can respond to any threat in seconds, we will mostly see it again in every engagement we enter until we either destroy or force to receive repairs" Nicole frowned.

Silver just sighed at the stacked odds and was worried about meeting the robot again so soon.

"I hate to sound like Sonic but we 'll do what we do best, improvise, one day we'll fight it in a situation where we'll have one advantage and make it work" Scourge said chewing on food.

Silver nodded to that, it seemed like the only plan they had unless Tails found a new gadget to fight it.

About then Blaze came with Silver breakfast and handed it over "Thanks" the smell making his stomach remember how hungry he was and quickly began eat. His tongue burned from the hot food and waited for it too cool before trying again.

"Well for now I think we can relax, we are safe here" Blaze sat down in the last remaining chair. The group eventually began playing crazy eights after finishing eating.

With Fiona….

After a good shower Fiona went to the control room knowing Tails would be there. She stopped hearing him speaking to who he presumed was Rosemary.

"One day I'll figure out a way to get you into a body"

"There is no need, I'm perfectly content where I am, besides you shouldn't waste your valuable time thinking of something can wait until this is all over"

"I know, but I will do it one day, I promise"

"Thank you, also you have a visitor"

Fiona guessed Rosemary knew she'd been there and came around the corner casually like she'd been striding to the door the entire time.

"Moring Tails, everything looking good"

"Seems so, no new or peculiar activity, glad for that" he finished off his coffee.

"Me too" she smiled "So what you got planned today?"

"Probably gonna find a way to fight that Metal Sonic, I was thinking something that will take him out in one hit" Tails leaned back a bit already planning ideas.

"Well I'd say a rocket launcher, but that's too slow and if we wanted to slow him down someone would have to be in the blast too" Fiona said leaning on the console.

"Nah I was thinking a railgun, fast, precise and deadly beyond belief. Just need to see if I got the parts for it. Although It would more then likely have to be used in a stationary position like a sniper rifle but far more powerful" he smirked at the very idea of sending a piece of metal as such extreme speeds through the robot.

"That's gonna take a lot of setup on the battlefield, and with precision comes a lot of space for error"

"I know, but it's precise enough that if someone were to keep him from moving I could take it out without hurting the other person"

"That is an upside" Fiona shrugged.

"I probably can make one with what I got, making as portable as possible is another challenge. Perhaps I could put it into deployable pieces. Like the actual barrel is one extendable piece, the firing mechanism could me my morph-gun with a few upgrades and the actual part that gives all the power could be shoulder mounted. All together it could be a portable cannon I could deploy fairly easy" that twinkle in his eye when he had an exceptionally hard project ahead was in his eye. It made Fiona smirk.

"Sounds like quite a weapon, better hop to it"

Tails nodded spinning in his chair "I will, I know I can make this work, if ya need me I'll be working" he walked out heading straight for the workshop.

"I will" Fiona smiled watching him leave with a determined stride in his step.

"I think you give him inspiration" Rosemary said once Tails was out of earshot.

"huh?" she turned to the screens confused.

"Ever since you arrived he's been actually working towards something, before you arrived he was…. lost, he had no reason to work towards anything. He had no reason to be himself, so he just got worse than even before Eggman destroyed everything"

"Oh… really, I had no idea. I'm glad" she smiled.

"I'm serious Fiona, if you could please don't leave him behind again. I think he needs you more than he realizes" her tone had a pleading edge to it.

Fiona recalled that journal of his, he had hated her so long but he got it all wrong, he still cared about her and couldn't understand why since she betrayed and hurt him. Maybe he knew now though, maybe he had it all figured out now, thanks to her being here.

Before she could answer Rosemary said "Just think about it ok?"

She nodded to that, she oddly didn't want to make a committed answer.

The fox could hear four voices in the kitchen and assumed from certain things they said they were playing cards. Last she saw of Shadow, only moments before she went for her shower he was napping so process of illumination answered who it was and went to check on them.

She guessed right and was glad to see Silver back on his feet, he was still clearly in discomfort. His posture showed it, but his demeanor tried to hide it.

From what she could tell they were having fun together, but it was clear Scourge was winning. Even when no money was involved she had known him to be scary to play against, he had a pretty good poker face so to speak. His runner up was Blaze who seemed to be able to control her tells and emotions.

She was surprised to see Nicole was last, she had expected her to be most in control of her tells, but then again her understanding of emotions and Mobian interaction was fragmented, even after all these years. She would straight a little, grin a tiny bit or her ear would flick. She was too easy to read. She didn't seem to mind though, she seemed to be happy with the idea of being with her friends and relaxing.

"Hey if you're gonna stare let me know what Blaze has" Scourge noticed her watching and made a quick quip.

The cat responded "That would be very unsportsmanlike of you to cheat"

"When has sportsmanship meant anything to me? Remember I'm not one of you good guys" he then played his turn, one step closer to victory "Besides, in a fight anything goes, if some dust in the eye or cheap shot keeps you alive and the opponent dead it's all worth it"

He had a point, if you were fighting to the death there wasn't really any point to holding your codes of conduct, if you make the split decision to be the honorable one and die for it than you're dead. For some it's worth going down respectfully, for others life trumped any kind of code.

His comment carried even more weight considering the situation, unlike falling in battle before there was a chance of someone taking your place down the road, but they were all that was left. Nobody was coming to replace them or reinforce them. From what they could tell they were the only people who could save this world. Resting on your morals wasn't an option anymore.

Normally Blaze would have argued his point but sadly even she felt that they had to win at any cost. Eggman had hurt her in a way few had ever done before. Not only humiliated her, but stole her emeralds and locked her away for two years. Things like that change even the most hardened souls.

"In any other situation I'd disagree but…. Eggman needs to be stopped"

Hearing Blaze say that hushed the room, there it was. Out in the open. Even she had been crossed enough to warrant no holds barred, this was a war without rules.

The short silence was broken by Nicole who decided to play her next turn, it was just enough to get everyone to slowly get back to a casual feel.

"So what's pipsqueak doing?" Scourge asked Fiona.

The fox was pouring a drink as he asked "He's thinking of ways to take down Metal Sonic, he's thinking of a high power rail-gun, to obliterate it in one shot. This things seems smarter than before and if it survives our attempts it will only adapt so it has to be a one shot kill"

Silver finally spoke "If anyone can find a way it's him" apparently he had a lot of faith in the older fox.

Nicole nodded enthusiastically "Oh yes, before he left he was great at making plans or taking others peoples plans and making them better"

The game continued until Scourge edged out Blaze by one card. Due to her tells Nicole came last making Silver third.

"You got a lot of tells Nikki" Scourge stated bluntly, but oddly not rudely.

"Oh, I did not realize" she seemingly didn't even notice the nickname.

"Everyones got 'em. Just got to learn to manage them, or use them to your advantage" he replied.

"Use them? How can you use a tell to your advantage?" clearly she hadn't played before.

"Perform your tells maybe when you have nothing, seriously throws people off. It's all mind games. Sometimes giving no tells at all can be even scarier" he smirked.

She nodded seemingly getting it "Thank you, I will remember that for next time"

He nodded "Maybe I'll show you a few tricks"

Blaze had already made Silver leave to lay down for a bit so only Fiona was nearby to hear. It somewhat shocked her to see he was offering his assistance. The nickname was new too.

On the other hand Nicole just smiled brightly "That would be nice"

Scourge just nodded then got up "Anyway, I'm gonna go play some games, you know incase something comes up"

The green hedgehog left and Nicole went to converse with Rosemary leaving Fiona alone. She finished her drink while making some breakfast for herself. Once done that she settled in to read and pass the time.

It felt nice that everyone was able to relax and talk again. Whatever was happening they were all starting to get used to one another in this tight space.

Later in the day…

Fiona snorted awake looking around, the room was empty.

"What woke me?" she scratched her head and felt her book slide off her stomach.

She growled in annoyance since the bookmark hadn't been put back in and leaned over to reach it.

 _Rumble_

She froze feeling the hole base shudder "What the fu-"

Terrifying shake cut her off incredibly powerful this time making her fall out of bed from her leaning position.

"What's doing that!?" she yelled out, as if anyone would hear her from the deafening sound.

Rosemary's voice came over the intercom "Everyone, we're under attack!"

Fiona quickly got to her feet "Oh sh-"

 _ **BOOM**_

The ground shook violently a loud explosion came from outside the hall knocking her off her feet and falling to her back.

With adrenaline pumping through her veins she got up again and ran through the doorway and looked out. She was immediately met with dust and ash in her face as it fanned out into the air.

She coughed and tried to wave away the debris and see through it. Choking on the air she eventually could see what happened, the ceiling had collapsed leaving a massive hole leading to the outside world. Scorch marks on what was left of the ceiling in the mound of dirt and ash told her enough. Atleast explosives had been used to make this hole.

Thinking on her feet she ran for the armory but ran straight into an eggbot that had jumped down before she could see. Staring into the barrel of its gun she froze, nowhere to go and no options, she was helpless.

Her saving grace was a green glow that game through the dust at mach speed smashing the eggbot into the wall it gun firing half a second after impact and the bullet sailing past the side of her head.

She looked and found it had been shadow using his powers to save her with chaos punch.

"What are you waiting for get your stuff!" he yelled zooming off to continue fighting.

His orders brought her back to what was happening so she rushed for the armory, nothing stopping her now. She had the jitters already thanks to her brush with death so putting on the belt took one extra try. No time for knee and elbow pads, but she remembered her pistols.

Turning she found just outside the door Scourge was grappling with one of those new invisible bots. Not wanting a repeat of his last encounter Fiona took quick aim and shot through the skull destroying it. Scourge wasted no time and rushed in grabbing his own belt and shotgun.

His speed got him back to Fionas side before she even left the doorway.

"I've only seen Shadow" she yelled to him as he loaded two shells.

"I still hear fighting so he must be out there" he gritted his teeth entering the dust storm again glasses on properly to help with avoiding dust getting in his eyes.

The fox followed at a slower pace trying to identify targets. Her perception paid off as another green glow sent a figure through the dust near her. She dodged narrowly avoiding the eggbot that he been utterly crushed by the impact.

Her blood was pumping and her mind was finally catching up now and saw a fatter figure in the dust and swiftly took aim aiming for the weak spot in between the neck and head scoring a killing shot.

She realized she'd only seen Shadow and Scourge so far but Blaze, Silver, Nicole and Tails were unaccounted for. That scared her, more than half the team she hadn't heard from so far. She got an idea and slowly made her way to the control room, the screens lights eventually showing through the dust so she ran inside.

"Rosemary, where is everyone"

Female voice quickly replied "Tails just left the workshop and is making his way to the armory for his gear, Silver and Blaze were in the kitchen when it began. They are still in there, it seems Blaze wants to defend Silver in his state. Nicole was plugged so she is safe"

Fiona turned and found the lynx already materializing.

"Shadow and Scourge are still fighting, but we're being overwhelmed" Rosemary continued.

"What the hell happened, I thought we had radar?"

"I don't know, there was nothing on the radar until the first rumble, only a few signals for a few seconds. After the second explosion a troop carrier entered radar range, by the third explosion that broke the ceiling it was on top of us and deploying it's eggbots"

Fiona growled "he knew exactly where we were, but how?"

Nicole spoke up "Perhaps we did not lose the Metal Sonic as we had hoped and simply followed us until we revealed our position when we went inside"

"Then how'd they sneak up on us?"

"Those new robots might have anti radar armor"

That was all Fiona needed to hear, they were no officially screwed.

Rosemary suddenly screamed "Behind you!"

Fiona turned narrowly dodging a bullet and returned fire straight into the optic of the eggbot. It feel backwards destroyed by the shot.

"Thanks, tell Blaze and Silver we're all ok so far, I'm gonna meet Tails. Nicole close this door behind me and monitor us, use your holograms to distract the bots if you can" Fiona turned and left and heard the door slide and lock behind her.

She gunned down two more eggbots and noticed the dust slowly thinning out, that would be a blessing and disadvantage.

She ran back into the armory and came face to face with the barrel of a gun and gasped.

"Fiona!?"

She felt someone tug on her arm back into the room and get her away from the door.

"You ok?"

She saw it was Tails now suited up hiding next to the door with her "Ya I'm fine, you?"

"Me too, seen anyone else?" doing a quick weapon check.

"Shadow and Scourge are out there fighting, Silver and Blaze are holed up in the kitchen, Nicole is with Rosemary, she says we're going to be overrun"

Tails' eyes went wide "It's that bad?" he was asking himself more than her.

"Yes, and we need to leave, we have a troop carrier right over out heads and they have explosives that could cave in the ceiling on us at any second!" Saying it out loud really made Fiona realize this was a hopeless fight and getting away was in their best interest.

"But-"

"No, we need to leave right now! You have an escape plan!?" Fiona had to grab Tails' face to make him pay attention.

He froze for half a second, something was making him worried, no doubt losing his home was one of them.

"I… yes, we need to get to the garage, with Silver not in fighting condition he won't be able to carry you or himself out of here so you don't fall behind the rest of us. We'll need a car" he explained.

"Ok, round everyone up, we'll meet in there" Fiona nodded but as she went to leave Tails grabbed her arm.

"I need to get some stuff from the workshop, don't wait for me" he ordered turning invisible and leaving before her.

She frantically followed heading to the kitchen first. She gunned down five more eggbots on her way and dodged three other eggbots that had encountered one of the two hedgehogs, and one grenade she barely saw tossed her way in the clearing dust.

As she neared she saw fire fly through the air and was happy to know Blaze was still up. To avoid being stopped by her she slid through the doorway, a fireball sailed above where she would have been had she not slid.

"I'm sorry I-"

Fiona cut off the cat getting to the side of the door for cover "No worries, we need to leave, Tails has a plan, get to the garage, we're taking a car out of here"

Silver groaned walking over to the two females "Then we better go now"

"Silver if-"

Once again Fiona cut her off "They are dropping troops in, the longer we wait the more there will be"

She nodded completely for the plan hearing that as she too realized this was a hopeless fight.

The trio moved out at a slow pace due to Silver having to keep it slow or risk collapsing. He managed a limping jog only because he didn't want them to get hurt because of him.

Before reaching the door the duo had taken down nine new eggbots together, Silver had blocked one attack that headed in their direction although he wasn't gonna be able to do that again for a little bit.

Once they reached the door they opened it and saw a tunnel leading down a hall presumably to the garage.

"I need to get everyone else, keep Silver safe" Fiona ordered closing the door at the two went inside and down the hall.

In moment she found Shadow brawling with a stealth bot , this one seemed to have forced him to slow down and fight it, which was bad. Luckily for him just as the bot parried a blow and gained the advantage a gunshot took its head out.

The ebony hedgehog turned to face the new figure but paused seeing Fiona had saved her "Thanks" he was about to blast off again when she stopped him.

"No, get to the garage, this is a losing fight!" it was getting louder as the dust had nearly settled and with twitchy trigger fired past Shadows shoulder taking out a silhouette out in the dust.

With that shot taken Fiona said "Find, Scourge! Once this dust settles we'll be open targets, I'm after Tails"

They split up through the mayhem, the settling dust only giving them more of a disadvantage as their foes gained. Their escape had to happen right now or suffer.

She knew where the fox was and ran to the workshop door, turning for a quick look to see if she'd been followed. She opened the door and a sudden weight was thrown into her followed by a growl as they landed.

She recovered quickly and saw Tails had been what hit her; he had a black eye and a scratch along his cheek. His glare went back to the door growling at his attacker.

He must have lost his gun or he'd have blown away the bot as it came into the doorway. Luckily for them both Fiona was still armed and in one swift motion fired three shots in a panic. The first two failed to be lethal, third wasn't lethal either but gave them an advantage. The shot hit the knee joint causing it to stagger, just long enough for Tails to lunge forward powered by his tails and grab onto the enemy. His shock gauntlets shocked it and finished it off.

He didn't take time to thank her and ran back inside still wanting what he needed. Fiona followed looking behind her, the dust was nearly gone now. She could see almost everything as atleast silhouettes. To say there was a lot was an understatement, how she managed to get through them all unnoticed was a miracle.

Inside Tails had a back pack half zipped up and filled with stuff, she truly hoped it was important to risk escaping faster.

He swung the bag into his back and grabbed his morph gun, which was on the ground and took one last moment to look around. Maybe to mourn, or to have one last clear picture of the room for his memory. Whatever it was quick and he bolted out of the room Fiona fast on his heels.

In not time they made it to the door just as the dust finally settled. None of the bots saw them, what a miracle that was. They faced a double barrel shotgun as they closed the door.

"It's us" Fiona instinctively gasped.

"Ya I see that" he panted, he had a cut on his eyebrow and a few lumps where he took a few strikes. He was all around still fight worthy and managed to still keep his glasses intact.

Behind was Shadow, he looked fine besides the dust in his fur.

"Alright now we leave" Shadow said heading towards the door down the hall.

"Wait!" everyone was surprised to hearing the command come from Scourge "Where's Nicole?"

Fiona gasped having forgot about her "I left her in the control room to help us, that must have been why he luck had been so good and why so many bullets kept flying despite being so few targets. Nicole using her holograms.

Scourge pushed past the two foxes "I'll get her"

"That's insane, it's overrun and tey don't know where we went yet" Tails grabbed his arm but was swiftly shoved into the wall.

"Don't wait for me"

With that he disappeared back into the fray and shooting could be heard already.

Shadow and Tails continued down the hall but Fiona still felt terrible for forgetting the lynx. So much so she didn't even worry about the fact Scourge went back to, maybe, save her.

She'd have gone to help but knew she was helpless to those numbers and followed the males.

Reaching the door it opened and they were met with an angry cat ready to kill. Since she saw fur and not metal she lowered her flame covered palm and sighed "You made it. What of Scourge and Nicole?"

Shadow was first to answer "He went back for her, he said not to wait too long for them"

While he made his brief explanation Fiona watched the door incase the eggbots learned where they went and Tails prepped a nearby vehicle.

It was, or had been a modern vehicle from two years ago. A lot of it had been stripped for spare parts or materials. The entire paneling was gone except to cover vital stuff like the engine or gas tank. The frame still stood and it had four seats.

"I meant to add more armor but forgot about it" Tails briefly explained running to a nearby hose that he then attached it to the back left side. After that he took a few spare tanks that had been filled ahead of time. He placed as many as he could into a rack on the back that looked specifically designed to carry them in the back and locked it to keep them safe.

"This shouldn't take long" Tails explained now running to a computer.

"Ok mom time to get you out" he mumbled.

"Tails? What are you doing?" his mothers voice filled their ears sounding worried.

"Downloading you so I can get you out of here of course" his voice sounded worried and unsure, but his actions gave no hint of hesitance.

"Tails you can't do that" his mothers voice became stern.

"Course I can, just need a bit and you'll be ok"

"Honey we don't have days!"

Everyone looked to the two tailed fox hearing that but Fiona spoke first "Days?"

Rosemary sighed impatiently, she wanted nothing more than to see them getting out of here.

"An AI like myself is huge, I run off my own power and have my own separate computer system. To download me fully it would take days, maybe over a week. But that doesn't matter anyway, I wasn't designed to leave this place remember?" she hoped that would stop her son.

"No, you know I've been working on a update to you so I can move you around"

"That is in such early stages it fits in one folder. Please Tails just go you know what must be done" her voice became hysterical and if she had a face she'd be crying.

"No I can save you, I need to!" Tails grit his teeth everything that was happening was clouding his judgment.

"Please stop, there's no time, everyone needs to leave now before it's too late, as do you" her crying voice telling them all she just wanted her son to survive.

"Please mom let me try- what?" Tails tapped at keys but was getting no more responses.

"I've locked you out" her voice was just barely stern again "Please take him, the eggbots have learned where you've gone, tey'll be here any moment"

"No you can't lock me out" two pairs of hands grabbed his shoulders and arms pulling him away "No, Stop! Let go of me, I have to save her!" Now the fox was crying being torn away from the computer towards the vehicle.

The fox desperately tried to pry himself from the hands but he had little control in his anger grief and desperation.

"You bastards let me go, you can't abandon her!"

"She said there is no way, she's telling us to leave and they are almost on top of us!" Shadow growled.

"She's my mom! You wouldn't understand" he spat teeth showing at he growled.

"I am sorry Tails" Blaze grunted as they neared the car.

"No you aren't, she isn't your mom, you just think she's a computer!"

"No we don't, she is your mom, but she knows it's either her or all of us. She loves you and wants you to live" Blaze tried to speak softly and calmly while trying to get him back as fast as possible. He was very strong for how small he looked.

His tears overwhelmed him "I can't lose her again" now choking on his words.

Fiona hard footsteps down the hallway they'd come from and jumped in to help. She got in his vision blocking him from seeing the computer "Please Tails think, you can't ask us to all die. Rosemary looked after us and now she is asking one request and that's to get out of here while we still can, especially you"

He stared into her eyes pleading for him to stop, he knew what he wanted to wrong, but he couldn't handle losing his mom again. He went through so much effort to bring her back from the dead in the form of an AI but now she'd be gone forever, all the tools he used to make her were in this base.

Her eyes calmed him long enough to finally think, and she was right. Asking for them all to die for an impossible task was beyond selfish. He finally stopped struggling and was forced into the vehicles back seat. Next to him was Silver who had gotten in during the whole ordeal.

Rosemary sighed in relief "Thank you, now please go, it's almost time" her voice wavered like she were frightened.

"Time for what?" Silver asked as Fiona took the driver seat and Blaze got in shotgun.

The door ahead of them lifted up revealing a long tunnel ahead, which eventually sloped up where another door was opening to the outside world.

Shadow ran forward as Fiona slammed the gas pedal. The door they had come from exploded open revealing eggbots who had been just a tad too late to stop their prey.

Tails sadly muttered "Time for her to go"

As the car screamed forward they could all hear Rosemary's faint voice say "I love you"

Shadow escaped first closely followed by the vehicle getting some air from the incline.

All went silently as the ground shook then a shock wave came from behind them bring a loud explosion.

Fiona fought to keep control of the car. Ahead of her Shadow visually lost balance for a moment from the shaking, his rocket skates kept him sliding along until he got his balance back.

Fiona looked in the rear view mirror and her jaw dropped. A giant mushroom cloud rose into the air behind them. The troop transport that had been dropping all the eggbots had been blown to pieces that had been shot into the air and were just now starting to fall back to the earth.

It was obvious what had happened, nothing survived.

She shifted the mirror so she could see Tails. He wasn't angry anymore, all she could see was him silently crying and his eyes showing a man who had just lost everything. She couldn't bare to look at him long and re-shifted the mirror back into its original position.

The mushroom had completed and was dispersing but it made her remember something else, Scourge and Nicole. He hadn't come back with her. That meant only one thing…

"Don't go thinking we're dead yet!" a familiar voice came from her left. Her head snapped in that direction and smiled seeing Scourge running next to the car. He looked bad bruised, battered and what looked like a near miss from a bullet had made a new tears in his jacket arm, a small stream of blood streamed out of the cut.

None of that mattered as he was carrying Nicole bridal style as he ran and her PDA safely clutched in her hands.

"You made it!" Fiona yelled, atleast there was some good news.

"You should know me by now, I'm hard to kill" he smirked, it reminded her of a certain blue hedgehog.

Scourge then looked to Nicole and smiled to her as well as the lynx wrapped her arms around his neck. Fiona couldn't tell if it was a hug or so she wouldn't fall.

Sadly looking in the mirror reminded her of the tradegy that had happened and how screwed they were now. They had no base, no home, no gear but what they had on their back and this car. Essentially nothing considering they meant to take down the ruler of the planet.

For now all they could do was run, figuring out where to go could wait until tomorrow.

 **I told you this would interesting. Finally I'm where I want to be. This was a big part I wanted to get to and the last two chapters before were this deserted har part where I was having a hard time bridging it all together. Now that I'm here I got a good plan for more. Hope you guys liked this nice long action filled chapter. Let me know what you think is gonna happen next.**

 **And if there's mistakes well refer to my older excuses, work is still a bitch.**

 **Oh and HAPPY VICTORIA DAY CANADIANS! And Have a Memorable memorial day to you americans(that's like on Monday I believe)**

 **Live long and prosper**

 **Admiralkirk**


	27. A new home

**A/N Hey here's another chapter. Hope everyone liked last chapter but ya that happened. Question is where will they go now? Also the idea for the railgun is a mostly from from Jhins sniper rifle in league of legends. The three parts making one the fact that I'm pretty sure it's a railgun and all that. So that's where it came from.**

The group of Mobians had found a suitable place to rest for the night. None of them knew if Eggman was aware of their escape or believed they'd perished in the explosion. Either nobody wanted to take too big of a chance. The car had a packed in tarp that was made to resemble a grey rock when covered over the vehicle.

Sitting on some semi comfortable ground the only light they could afford to have without risking being seen in the night was Blaze creating a small blaze in her palm.

When their heart rates went down after the escape they all realized how screwed they were. Nobody had talked about it yet, like they wanted to pretend it didn't happen.

Fiona looked around the group. First was Tails to her right. He had been the quietest, had said literally nothing since the explosion. It was pretty obvious why. Kid had suffered a lot in his life. Lost his family when he was young, got them back only to have them die again from the same man who separated him from his folks. Now his second chance at a mom was gone as well. Only made it worse that his home for the last few years was also completely obliterated.

She knew he was more than likely hanging on by a thread, either he'd drop into such a deep depression he refuses to try and stop Eggman anymore, or worse. It was also possible his rage would flare up again even worse than before.

Only time would tell, perhaps she could help him in time.

Everyone else was better, by a small margin. Shadow hid his emotions well like always, his silence could mean many things.

Scourge had been the most talkative, he told a story in a strange attempt to lighten the mood, nobody really listened besides Nicole and Silver.

Nicole had stayed near Scourge since the escape, apparently after he ran back for her he had gone to his limit to not die and suffered his new injuries for it, most prominently was the near miss on his arm. Nicole had tended to that wound as soon as she could with the medkit in the car. He had grabbed her and waited for an opening, which came in the form of all the eggbots heading for the garage. He and Nicole used the elevator to the surface and narrowly escaped the blast.

Fiona was glad to hear that Nicole held no hard feelings about being forgotten; she understood it was a high stress time and survival was on everyone's mind. She was just glad that Scourge hadn't forgotten her.

She sat next to Scourge who was had no problem with it. She could swear Scourge was smiling more. Sadly everyone realized they had no extra power rings anymore so soon Nicole would have to stay in her PDA or at most just have her head projected. She guessed she and Scourge were savoring the time she was able to keep her full projection. Her past experience with Scourge made her wary of where that was going though, she'd keep an eye on them.

Lastly was Silver and Blaze. Blaze stayed by Silver side still as he continued to recover. He had complained that his butt was sore from driving but that complaint was ignored. Silver had tried to bring the cats spirits up with a few conversation starters but none really worked so he gave up.

As for Fiona she knew they were fucked unless they found a new place they could reliably hold up in soon. She was curious about what Tails had brought, nobody asked about it yet.

"So…. What's in the bag?"

Her voice snapped everyone from their long silence all wanting to know as well.

The younger fox sighed heavily but unzipped the bag "Everything I need to make that rail gun I mentioned, also that power core I put in the generator. I was….. I was hoping to use it to power mom when we found a new place that could handle her…." A tear was in his eye as he explained.

"So what's it gonna be for now?" Silver asked frowning at the mention of his mom again, he could relate to him as he too had lost his mom. The difference was he never got to see her.

He sighed sadly again "I guess it could power any place we can find, it's a powerful self recharging power cell, it could power just about anything almost indefinitely" he gingerly put it back in the backpack not wanting to damage it.

Shadow finally spoke "So all we need it a new base and that can solve our power problems? Seems simple"

Silver turned to Shadow "Hey know of any nearby GUN instillations that could still be intact?"

He shook his head, he had only small encounters with GUN, they had employed him but he was a freelancer to them on only a small amount of operations, never a true employee.

Silvers eyes drooped again with that option gone.

They couldn't recall or think of any plans until Fiona got a crazy idea "Why not head back to Mobotropolis and bring what's left of Freedom HQ back online one last time?"

Silvers eyes lit up "That sounds like a great idea!" he'd always wanted to visit the famed Freedom HQ as a kid.

"The city is overrun, and who's to say the power in the building even works?" Shadow was already skeptical.

"Actually we installed a separate generator for it. Unless it was destroyed we could get it working" Nicole explained.

"That still doesn't answer my problem with the city being overrun. Even if we cleared out the entire city somehow Eggman wouldn't take to kindly to it and take us out again"

He doesn't have to know we're there, if we can get inside the building unseen we could use special exits to get in and out from then on out. Some lead to the outskirts of the city" Nicole had the most knowledge of the building seeing as she was the only one left who'd been there until Eggman attacked and kidnapped her.

The possibility of actually using the HQ as their new base of operations hyped up Silver even more "Ok we can take a vote, we can atleast scope it out right?" he raised his hand looking around.

Fiona raised her hand, she thought of it and it seemed to be the only real option right now. Nicole was next to raise her hand, she wanted to see what happened to her home. That meant they needed one more vote.

Scourge and Blaze also agreed. Silver was right, taking a look couldn't hurt and it was the only idea that had been sent out.

Shadow sighed "Alright fine we'll check it out, I really hope this works out"

Fiona had been hoping Tails would want to go as well, he still wasn't feeling better. Not even the possibility of seeing how the HQ had aged since he last checked it out made him react. She wouldn't be surprised if he hadn't even heard the conversation.

The decision was made and the group began to slowly drift to sleep. Shadow quickly entered sleep first. Nicoles power ring finally died so now was restricted to her PDA. Scourge kept it close though. Blaze slept nearby to Silver though gave him his space. Fiona kept an eye on Tails until she was sure he was asleep and was last to rest.

The next day…

Now with a plan, everyone awake and enough gas to last them a few days they headed out to Mobotropolis.

Fiona once again drove but Tails and Blaze switched spots from the day before so he was in front. Shadow and Scourge ran just ahead of them and Nicole rested safely strapped to Scourges jacket.

During the drive Fiona looked to Tails once in awhile, she wanted to say something to him but he seemed to disinterested in everything she doubted he'd hear her. It was only harder to accept the silence since Blaze and Silver were able to talk quietly to one another with ease.

Thinking of something she hoped he'd hear her "So, I think if anyone can get HQ back up and running you can, right?"

He shrugged in a disinterested fashion not even glancing her way.

"I mean, you brought that power core with ya, if we need we can use that right?"

"Maybe…. I don't know"

Good he spoke. She sighed glad for that "I know you'll get it going, you got those magic fingers"

He just shrugged looking out to the wasteland on his side. He was silent for a long time his eyes glazed over staring into the dead plains. Fiona would look to him every so often and would be glad to see he still had his seatbelt on.

"What are we doing?" the younger fox sighed.

"Heading back to-"

"No I mean why, what's the point?" a very small hint of anger in his voice.

"We can't give up Tails, we've gone too far to give up, we have no other choice but to keep going if we don't everyone dies"

"Species come and go, extinction ends species and others rise afterwards, maybe this is our extinction event"

"Don't you dare say stuff like that Tails, don't try to justify your reasons through science. If we give up that's like saying we don't deserve to live on"

Tails growled back "What would we even do if we won by some massive miracle? There's nothing left to rebuild, it's all gone, even the plants"

"You know that's wrong, there has to be plants of some kind. Like you said we would have run out of air by now"

Tails only got more frustrated as Fiona continued to counter his points. It worried her that he'd lost his will to fight, but she could see why. She couldn't relate to his feelings though, she only had the vaguest of memories of her folks, no true memories.

"Tails…. I know it's hard and I wish I had something like I know how your feel or that things will get better, but I can't….. But what I can say is that giving up on a possible good future might be the worst thing any of us can do, especially when giving up means the end. No matter how hopeless it may seem it's worth fighting for a low chance at something than a guarantee of nothing" she hoped what she was saying made sense and was helping.

Behind her Silver and Blaze had quieted down to hear what they were saying and see how it all ended up.

They all had to wait though as Tails stayed quiet, either he ignored her or was thinking about it. His glazed eyes made it hard to tell.

Soon his ear twitched and his head slowly turned to Fiona "You're sounding awfully like Sally"

She wasn't sure if that was him trying to deflect the question or was trying to make her smile. All it really did was make her remember the chipmunk was dead along with everyone else. They hadn't been the best of friends, especially when she defected to Scourge, but did she hate her? No.

"Well…. Somebody's got to make speeches and look pretty" with that she took her guess on which direction he was heading.

"We don't need words, we need Eggmans head on a pike!" he snarled. She must have guessed wrong.

His outburst was quite violent for the kitsune, enough o make Fiona reconsider her reply twice "…. And that's where you shine Tails. Not only have you done amazing things befre Eggman took over but since we started this adventure you've been invaluable to the team. We're all right behind you and ready to go into fire with you. Because we believe in you. Losing you means leaving us all to die, or lose hope ourselves"

As she finished Blazes voice came up from behind them "She's right, I can't speak for Scourge or Shadow but I know Silver and Nicole see you as a leader. We need you or we'll never be able to defeat Eggman" Silver didn't protest to her speaking for him so he probably felt that way.

Tails just huffed "I don't know why, I wasn't the leader. I've never been in charge. I always followed Sonic and when I wasn't I was following someone else or giving ideas when they asked me. After that I stayed alone, I led nobody and followed nobody. Why do you believe I'm the leader of this group? Shadow would do better than me"

Blaze sighed but continued to try "Yes he could, I could be in charge, even Scourge has leadership qualities…. That atleast need some heavy refinement. But you have made the plans, you have chosen what we do, and it has been you who has directly led us during the missions. You have been the leader since we started can't you see?"

Tails just sighed looking out to the waste again and looked like he wasn't gonna talk again any time soon. The two females took that as a sign to leave him be and let him think for the rest of the ride. Blaze and Silver got back to their old conversation and Fiona focused on driving.

Had they not needed the car they could have reached mobotropolis in less than an hour, but like yesterday Silver wasn't ready to use his powers so they still needed it, besides that it was the only thing left from Tails' base. At the very least it could be turned into other stuff if needed.

When they did arrive it was late in the afternoon and the sun was starting to set, maybe two hours left before darkness enveloped the city.

The car had a tarp inside that was the same grey as the ash covered waste. If anything flew by it would look like just a rock.

Sadly the shadows couldn't hide what had happened to it. Many buildings stood, it had only been two years. The fighting that took place after Eggmans initial attack did more to the city then the last two years. A few structures in specific had fallen, one was even leaning into the side of another keeping it just barely standing.

It was the old palace that caught their eyes the most. Unlike last time most saw it, the palace had lost the special glow it always had. The structure was damaged all around and chunks of roof were missing. The gem of the city was now simply another depressing husk in a run down city that used to be a shining symbol of hope.

None of those structured mattered right now, they weighed on all of their hearts but were important besides one specific building. Freedom HQ.

Shadow stared out at the city and ducked down a bit behind their cover suddenly "The city is being patrolled I saw some Eggbots"

"Well of course there's more of those things, this couldn't possibly be easy right?" Scourge groaned.

Blaze hummed in thought "It seems to dangerous to all go at once with light still in the sky. Plus we have no reassurance the place is usable"

Everyone knew where she was going as they looked to Tails. He was the only one who would know if the place could be restored or not next to Nicole, but without a power ring she wasn't gonna be able to even see anything.

Tails sighed obviously still not wanting to stay out of all this "I doubt it will work at all, last time I was in there the place had been ransacked, it's been two years since then"

"Whatever is wrong with it, you can fix it, and if not you then Nicole can help as well. You said that power core you have is self-renewing and could power your base if we needed it to, we don't need all of HQ to be running just necessities. I know you could get it to all work" Fiona pleaded to him.

Everyone else looked to the fox and the overwhelming amount of eyes pretty much forced him to do as they said.

He sighed angrily "Fine… I'll look"

With that the younger fox disappeared and headed for the city. Hopefully he could get inside and look at the state of the HQ before it got dark. That way he could open one of the secret tunnels from the inside while Nicole directed everyone to it with some light still in the sky.

Sadly all they could do was wait now, nobody felt safe nearby the occupied city.

They kept a look out during this time, Shadow volunteered; his dark colours and keen senses made him the best choice.

"So pipsqueak doesn't seem like his normal self?" Scourge suddenly spoke.

Everyone was surprised he was first to speak but Fiona replied first "Of course he isn't, he lost his mom"

Scourge looked like he had something else to say to that but stopped himself. With a brief moment he thought of something else "Ya well he better do his job is all I'm saying" he leaned back on his elbows.

"We must believe in him and support him. In times of great hardship friends and encouragement is what any needs" Blaze said confidently, she sat with a straight back and cross legged.

Silver agreed with the cat "He knows we're his friends right?"

Fiona just sighed and looked away "I can't say for sure"

"And why not? You seem to be the closest to him?" Scourge asked.

Fiona looked away and tried to think of a good comeback to that, they didn't need to know about what Rosemary had said or what she read in his journal.

"I was first to find him, so I guess he just finds it easier to talk to me" she shrugged.

"You betrayed him, of all of us you'd be the last person he'd care to speak to, next to Scourge" Silver inquired, he was glad to see Scourge was unfazed by his comment.

He's different than he was before, maybe that's got to do with it?" she continued to dodge the real answer.

Blaze had to agree with this though and nodded "Tails has experienced things no child should experience. He has experienced, war and loss at a young impressionable age. Anyone would be changed from all that. Whatever is making him speak to Fiona the most I can't say, but thankfully it's talking and not violence anymore"

"I can agree with that, I'd much rather have my head on my neck" Fiona chuckled.

Blazes comment was enough to keep off any other questions for now.

As the sun went down Scourge looked to Nicoles PDA and began typing having a small conversation with her. For awhile that was all they other three heard until Silver decided to ask a dangerous question.

"So what you and your girlfriend talking about?" the two girls could tell he was joking but wondered if he would.

Scourges eyes drifted to the white hedgehog slowly before growling "She's not my girlfriend"

Silver chuckled now nervous and scratched his head "I didn't mean it seriously, but what's going on with her?"

"She wants to know what's going on so I'm explaining" he said hitting more keys at a surprisingly fast rate.

"Alright good, let her know we're all waiting and we hope to see her in her body again" Silver smiled kindly.

Scourge didn't respond but he continued to type, then pause for her response then type again. Blaze and Fiona shot quick glances to one another, it looked like they were thinking the same thing. Scourge definitely was saying more than what Silver requested.

So Fiona thought getting out a kind of probing question "So now that Nicole actually can't hear us, tell me. You probably don't like Nicole pestering you so much right?"

Scourge looked up past his glasses and took a good moment to think of his answer "You know I like people paying attention to me"

The fox smirked hearing that dodge "No but it's different, she talks to you and seems to enjoy being around you?"

"I'd like to be around myself too"

Stubborn hedgehog "Come on, you didn't even let me annoy you that much"

"Who said she was annoying me?" he looked up questioningly.

Fiona just smirked more, got him.

"So you do enjoy her being around?" her tail flicked as she said this.

"Ya and what of it?"

"Just not used to you finding someone company so nice, especially when most of the time she's doing the talking and taking care of you when you were hurt" she recounted her observations.

"So you're saying it's wrong to like having a servant?" he raised an eyebrow.

He was lucky that Nicole couldn't hear when like this unless she projected her head. Because it made Fiona growl.

"If I find out you're using er or hurt her I'll…"

"Don't threaten me, you know I can run circles around you" he threatened back. She had expected him to do this but something about his overly aggressive tone surprised her, he was…. offended?

"That still doesn't answer my question"

Scourge refused to answer "Piss off"

"I'm watching you, she's lost a lot in a short time" she'd have threatened him again but she was sure it was implied enough.

"…. I know" after that he decided to go and take a nap while waiting for Tails to return.

Fiona watched him as he moved away all the way until he layed down and realized it would be best she did the same thing.

With the two asleep and Shadow on watch Blaze looked to Silver "Are you comfortable?"

"Ya, I'm feeling better, I still got those pain meds Rosemary gave me, so at most I'm a little numb and stiff" he shrugged trying his best to not look like a goof.

"That is good to hear, I'm sure your med supply will last until the pain is manageable" the cat smiled. Then she paused.

"I know it may seem very far away and may not feel like it's worth your time to think about this, but, what do you plan to do when this is all over?" Blaze asked, she kept quiet so nobody else would hear.

He shrugged yet again "I thought I'd just stick with Shadow I guess. Maybe go find all the people from our town and get together again"

"That sounds like a reasonable goal, what if Shadow prefers to go back to solitude?"

The idea made Silver frown and look down, he even had a small air of worry now that she mentioned it "He wouldn't do that, we're partners… we're friends…. Right?" he suddenly started to doubt if Shadow actually cared for him, he'd probably never thought of this possibility.

"I'm sure he considers you a friend, he considered most of us friends. Especially Rouge and Omega, yet he still kept to himself most of the time" Blaze explained "But when we saw him he was always there for a reason, I believe once or twice he came to see us more than for an important reason. Not to mention, he never had a mentor before, you are something to him nobody else has been before. I'm sure he'd make a exception" her smile was warm and encouraging.

Silver smiled back glad to hear what she had to say "Maybe… I hope so"

They were quiet and Blaze spoke once more "Perhaps when this is all over, I could show you my home?"

The white hedgehog looked at her surprised "You'd do that? I'd have thought you'd lean more on the side of people staying in their respective universes?"

Blaze actually chuckled "Well I do, but there's nothing wrong with visiting with good intentions"

"I guess that makes sense" he smiled "Maybe, maybe I can meet that Marine girl you mentioned?"

"Of course" the cat smiled "She enjoys meeting new people, but I warn you is…. Talkative"

"No problem, I knew a kid or two who had a problem being quiet back at the orphanage"

Blaze nodded to this but frowned "But we will have to make it through all this first"

Silver nodded frowning, he knew that would take a lot of effort and time before that would all be possible. Sorry thinking about that wouldn't really worth their time.

"Blaze…. I feel terrible that we had to leave Rosemary behind… I've…. Never had to do something like that before" he was inexperienced, he wasn't afraid to admit that. He'd seen a lot of action but never had he been in a situation where there was no choise but to leave someone behind. He felt wrong doing it, but knew Rosemary wanted them to run and survive. He didn't even know Rosemary that well and now he felt guilty, had he been at full strength things could have been different.

"It was very unfortunate we had to leave her, but the needs of the many out weigh the needs of the few. Rosemary knew this and made sure to save all of us. It wasn't your fault"

"Yes it was! I was hurt, I'm one of the strongest on the team; imagine if I could have fought. I could have stalled for more time, destroyed more eggbots, things could have gone so much better" he threw his face into his hands.

"It wasn't your fault Silver, nobody could have predicted that happening, and even if we successfully defended the place he'd know where we are anyway and we'd face another attack" Blaze watched as Silver slowly revealed his face again.

"Tht doesn't make me feel any better" he sighed.

"Well for now just rest, you'll need your strength if anything bad happens" the cat said quietly.

He hated that he had to rest so much, felt like being the orphanage again and needing to stay in bed for days when sick. Not to mention that disgusting medicine.

He was about to lay back when Blaze gently pulled him close. He leaned as far as he could until he couldn't balance anymore and slowly began to lay on his back. He soon found his head in her lap and looking up at the cat who began petting his quills.

"Uhh…. Blaze?" he asked.

"Just be quiet an rest" she said somewhat sternly.

"Yes ma'am" he blushed hard adjusted a bit to get comfortable and closed is eyes. He still felt her petting his head until sleep caught up to him.

Shadow had quickly comeback to check on everyone and saw the scene and a smile crept up his muzzle. He soon left to continue keeping a watch.

Elsewhere…

Slowly walking through the now ruined city Tails could only be reminded how doomed they were with each step. He remembered years ago walking these streets and people were everywhere. They'd be going through their daily lives completely unaware of the coming apocalypse. He had walked down thee streets thinking the same thing, it never crossed his mind something so catastrophic could happen.

Even with all the destruction the way to HQ was still the same, by simple muscle memory alone he could find his way back to his former home without even looking.

That was exactly what he was doing…

Ever since he walked away from the group his mind had been somewhere else. All his mind could think about was his mom and dad. Both were now permanently gone, and he'd never get them back now matter how much he tried.

He hated Eggman t his very core now, but he resented the Mobians he called friends. Why couldn't thy leave him alone? He and his mom had been fine and safe until they all came together…. Now she was gone.

All of it was gone, the last remnants of his life were now gone. Now they just wanted to move on and find a new play to get destroyed.

Their goal was impossible, why fight for a lost cause? He had been contemplating just leaving, find a moment to escape from these people who had to come around and ruin his life. Leave them behind and watch as they all died in their useless task.

What could they do for this world anyway if they miraculously won? How could things go back to normal after all this? There was nothing to work with, nothing to grow, nothing to rebuild, atleast to him it seemed that way.

Whatever patrols went through the streets hadn't seen him, not surprising as his cloak was constantly on. None of them would know he was here unless he bumped into them.

Soon he was in front of his old home and looked around the building. From what he could tell the last two years had been fairly kind to it. The walls held together and after flying up top he found the roof was in good order. There didn't seem to be any patrols nearby so they could possibly stay here if they kept a low profile.

What truly got his attention was at the back of the building. A large hole had been blasted out. He could tell it was explosives and not just the wall falling apart. Not only was the entire rest of the building looking fine, but there were the obvious scorch marks.

Remembering back to when he came here for supplies and to possibly find anyone alive he couldn't remember that hole being there. Something happened here after he left.

Investigating further he walked through the hole. The hole was large and led to two rooms, despite the blast he could tell which ones. One was simply a hallway and the other was a bedroom. Down the hall would be a few others but they were spared from the blast. The room he was looking at was Sonics room.

Nothing had really survived. Among the few things he could even recognize was a burned bed, destroyed desk and a old book that was previously on the desk.

The fox continued on his way ignoring the memories of the past. He didn't bother looking through the rest of the bedrooms either.

He navigated further, careful of any traps or eggbots that might be hiding inside. Everything looked a lot like the last time he'd been here, except for extra cobwebs.

Eventually though he made it to the control room and sat in the decaying chair. He tapped at a few keys and found the place was out of power, like he suspected. He bent over to begin installing his power core when he noticed something.

A large wire ran from under the console and into another room.

That definitely hadn't been there before so he slowly followed it.

As he entered the next room he found yet another new addition. Inside the wires he followed led to a Mobian sized hamster wheel made of metal.

"Who made this?" he spoke to himself, it felt oddly familiar.

He looked around and found a small desk with a blueprint on it. The large paper had several small tears on the edges and looked crumpled, two small rocks kept it from rolling back up.

Tails took off his helmet and then blew away the dust, coughing as it sprayed in his face a bit. When the dust cleared his was shocked at what he saw.

Looking over the blueprint the memories around it came flooding back, it had been one of the first ideas he'd ever come up with. The hamster wheel had been an idea he thought of for any possible power problems. Someone could run in the wheel and generate power. It was so primitive because his mind hadn't figured out just how much his potential truly could be. So it worked off a simple generator that was hooked up to the wheel like a turbine of sorts. Then it had a storage kind of battery that could store energy for use so constantly running wasn't needed.

"All of this wasn't here before?" he spoke to himself confused. Someone had been here after he left with Nicoles PDA. Could they have made that huge hole? If so where were they?

The thought made Tails put his helmet back on and cloak immediately, he could be in serious danger. He was no fully aware of all of his surroundings and activated a local scan with his suits systems. His suit fired out a low resonating echo hoping to find who it might be.

He got a few pings from the echoes bouncing back but with investigation it was just random objects that could deflect the sound.

With the place apparently cleared he went back to the wheel and got on. He began to run as fast he could and within five minutes he felt he had enough power for what he needed.

He went back to the control computer and was able to bring it online, he didn't bother brining anything else on so as not to waste energy.

He quickly went to see when the computer had last been used and it had been nearly a year and a half.

Tails sighed, whoever had been here definitely hadn't been here in a long time.

Tapping away at the keyboard he brought door controls online and looked at the new passages ways using the map built into the computer. He was surprised by how much had been changed since he left, atleast ten tunnels that led under the city that either branched into more tunnels or led directly to the outside of the city. All of them eventually reached the surface in hard to find places.

He quickly figured out where his friends were and opened a single door. He downloaded the map into his suit incase he forgot which way to go and turned everything off to save power.

He waslked through the old halls and wondered who could have possibly been here. Who could built his wheel and where did they go?

It was enough of a mystery to make him ignore the decaying building, and more importantly, kept him from remembering.

Once he reached the entrance to the tunnel system he checked the map and headed where he needed to go. Halfway to the exit he called Fiona.

"Hey…. Anyone there?" he said annoyed, they were waiting for him and then didn't answer?

After a small wait he could hear faint snoring and sighed and took a breath "HEY WAKE UP!"

"GAH!?... what…. Huh?"

"It's me Tails. And hey don't fall asleep when you're waiting for me" he growled, it vibrated off the walls of the old tunnel.

"Oh… sorry, must have slept longer than I wanted to, so what's going on, you ok?" she sounded concerned despite the rude tone Tails gave.

"Found a way in, there's been some new additions to the headquarters, someone was here sometime after I visited until about a year and a half ago. Whoever it was they left behind a way to keep the base semi powered as long as we pay attention" Tails explained.

"Any idea where this person may have gone?"

"Don't know don't care, I'll take what I can get" he rolled his eyes.

Fiona was silent at his cold reply so he continued.

"Anyway I opened up one of the exits Nicole mentioned, I'm almost to the exit, head south-ish, I'll see you guys and lead to the tunnel"

"Alright, I'll tell everyone, see ya soon"

He just grunted and continued on his way seeing light ahead. No need to cover his eyes from the glare, his helmets lenses adjusted to compensate.

Finally outside again the wind caught his tail and shoulder cape a little. His ears twitched from the dry air and he looked around for his friends. When he didn't see anyone he stayed cloaked and waited, somewhat annoyed.

Even though it took only a few minutes to see them his foot was already tapping impatiently.

He ran over and decloaked "Come on, follow me" he ignored pleasantries or even smiling back.

He led them back and through the tunnels keeping quiet.

Scourge tailed behind and quickly typed to Nicole that they were inside letting her know what was going on.

Fiona just watched Tails wondering if she should speak to him. She looked back and thought it better to speak to him in private.

The only person who spoke up was Silver.

"This is actually kinda exciting, I always wanted to see inside Freedom HQ"

"I doubt it will in pristine condition" Blaze replied. She'd kept an eye on the hedgehog incase his pain got too intense or he fell.

The ivory hedgehog sighed frowning "I know, but maybe I can use my imagination?"

"Perhaps" Blaze smiled at his optimism.

They all entered the HQ soon after and looked around. There was a mix of relief and disappointment among the group. It was nice to have a place they potentially call home but the depressing state the base was in didn't help moral too much.

"This will have to do" Shadow said looking around.

"As soon as Tails has his power cell working we'll have the base partially powered constantly" Fiona smiled. Beside her Tails rolled his eyes, to him it was just more useless work.

Fiona continued "Once that's done we can hook Nicole up to the computer, we don't want the power going out hen she's half in two things"

"Good idea" Scourge nodded typing this out to Nicole.

"As for the rest of us, look around and maybe find anything we can use, Silver, just rest"

"No problem" he sighed sitting in the chair at the computer.

Everyone scattered and Tails got to work connecting his power cell to the power grid.

It didn't take long, it was able to power a decent amount of the base, most importantly would be the console. Besides that everything else was a bonus.

When Scourge came back he plugged Nicole, who appeared on the screen and Scourge smiled "Good to see ya" he said quietly.

The lynx just smiled and pointed at him then put up to fingers. She apparently couldn't speak to him so used sign language.

With her no going through the database and files everyone just started to relax. Tails found his way back to his old workshop. The place had been cleared out, either by his friends when he left or potentially looters. He'd have to do scavenging missions to get useful supplies again. Just more useless work he knew his 'teammates' would make him do.

He heard the door open and close hind him, he didn't turn. He hoped that'd be enough to tell whomever it was to piss off.

Instead he heard he heard a female voice belonging to Fiona "So this is the new place you moved to. Eh?"

"Nothing like my base" he closed his eyes trying to avoid the recent memories.

Fiona frowned behind him and approached "Tails if you need to ta-"

"I'm fine"

"I know you aren't"

"Ya well piss off anyway!" he turned rage in his eyes again. Her slight flinch showed she was afraid.

The door opened again and Scourge said "Hey pipsqueak, Nicole found something, she wants you to see"

The two tailed fox quickly shoved past Fiona and left leaving to sighed sadly and slowly follow.

Back at the console Tails sat at the chair and looked up at the screen where Nicoles avatar stood frowning sadly.

A speech bubble appeared next to her saying.

"First I want to apologize, the speakers seem to be broken so I must speak this way"

She visibly gulped "But…. I found some videos, more specifically video logs. I will ad subtitles so you can understand…. Also, the first videos time stamp is two weeks after the failed attack on Eggmans fortress, so after Tails visited" Her avatar slid off screen and a new screen opened and loaded the videos.

The opening image appeared and every went wide eyed, wide mouthed and completely astounded.

Shadow whispered "Impossible"

On screen sitting in the chair was someone they all thought had died during the attack.

Looking, defeated, sad and bandaged up from two heavy gun shot wounds, one to the leg and another to the lower stomach. The figure slowly lifted his head and revealed tired green eyes.

It was none other than Sonic, he had survived the attack…

 **Ok so sorry about the long wait. Usual reasons and such, but you can add Dark souls 3 to that list of things distracting me. I've never played a dark souls(or demon souls or bloodborne) before and I decided to finally try and I'm hooked. Anyway besides I was kinda lazy, so ya.**

 **Anyway the story GASP it's Sonic, but how, he died, Shadow said so. But where's he been this whole time. Find out next chapter.**

 **I'd also like to give a shout out to a new reviewer named Reaver17 and his very helpful review, gave m the confidence I needed and the spur to get to work, so thank you.**

 **And as always live long and prosper**

 **Admiralkirk**


	28. Past explained

**A/N Hey here's next chapter and we'll be getting a few answer about Sonic and other stuff. Not much to say besides that, here we go.**

Sonic sighed , the subtitles confirming this. He looked so tired and defeated, the natural glow in his eyes had been glazed over with despair. His fur was messy and clearly hadn't been washed in awhile, ash making his fur look dull. He didn't look like Sonic anymore.

"So…. I guess, I should leave some kind of video log or something. Well, I'm Sonic the hedgehog…. Former leader of the Freedom Fighters" he looked away for some time slowly forcing himself to continue.

"About, two weeks ago Dr Ivan 'Eggman' Robotnik began a mass attack of Mobius. At this moment from what I've learned his victory is pretty much complete now" The normal Sonic would have been more light hearted and joking around, he even said Eggmans full name. Losing everyone was weighing on him deeply.

"I called in all the Freedom Fighters and other able bodied heroes I knew and I decided to attack Eggmans fortress….. well….. As you can see I'm badly injured. During the attack everyone was taken down due to my terrible plan." He began to cry admitting this.

"All of my friends, all of them gone because of my impatience, because I wanted to stop Eggman so fast and not make a plan. Because I was so angry, and everyone else was so angry they couldn't see it either…. Chaos…. Shadow was right" he went into a crying fit.

Nobody watching the screen spoke, the lack of sound didn't mean anything, they could all his voice clear as day watching as the once stoic hero broke to tears of agony over the loss of everyone he ever loved, and more importantly failing the people he wanted to protect.

When the fit ended he composed himself "But obviously…. I'm still alive, after everyone else was killed and me trying to buy time so Shadow could save anyone else worth saving I still got out. I have no idea, I felt pain and everything went black and my body just drove me out by itself"

"I don't even know if Shadow or anyone else made it, I never found them. I was hurt after I had to stay down for days healing and avoiding being caught. I searched, and searched but I just couldn't find anyone. I realized I couldn't go to any of the small towns or risk having the place destroyed if Eggman even got a wiff of me being there…. So I came back here after I couldn't search anymore…. Even Nicole is gone now" he sniffled clearly feeling so alone.

"So here I am, somehow alive, all alone forced to watch as the world falls apart because there's nothing I can do… it's what I deserve for leading my friends to their fate, and letting everyone down" He didn't even cry, he must have felt crying meant he felt pity for himself, why would he feel pity for himself after leading his friends to death? No he simply sat there for awhile looking away from the camera until he finally pressed a key ending the video.

Nicole faded into view and another speech bubble appeared "There are more, if you wish to watch them later" she guessed some of them couldn't see anymore for now.

Tails simply stared past the lynx still replaying the video in his head over and over. So Fiona nodded for him, Sonic had looked absolutely broken and beyond repair, she couldn't see him like that for awhile.

Shadow was first to speak "So he must be the one who made this wheel to power the base. He had nowhere to go and suspected everyone was gone" the ebony hedgehog looked down clenching his fists "Had I known, I would have come and got him, but…" even he looked a little depressed learning this revelation.

"There's nothing we can do now" Fiona whispered "Hopefully we'll get more clues to what happened to him further in the logs"

"Well where is he!" Shadow suddenly yelled "Where did he go, he had nowhere to go and no purpose. Where is he? There's no body anywhere!?"

Blaze could see Shadow was now feeling guilty for leaving Sonic behind and said "Shadow calm down, we'll get answers if we watch further, for now, we should rest and digest the information we have learned, and cool our heads"

The hedgehog didn't seem to listen to her at first but soon his muscles loosened and he took a deep breath "Yes…. You are right"

He walked away quietly planning to do as Blaze suggested. Things had been stressful for them all and knowing heir friend suffered by himself for so long didn't help anyone getting some time to cool off and think was what they all needed.

Scourge approached the screen and said "I guess I was wrong"

Fiona looked to him "What do you mean?"

"I once said to him that one bad day would him just like me, guess I was wrong. He got even worse than me"

On the screen Nicole was trying to look composed like always but was also having a hard time getting past what they all witnessed.

She kept searching through the computer at the same time but nothing else was new besides Sonics logs.

Fiona walked to Tails and said softly "How you holding up?"

Her voice forced him out of his trance "Huh?... Ya… I'm fine" he looked away and got out of the chair wanting to get away from her.

It was pretty obvious so with curled back ears Fiona reached out for his shoulder "Tails, you can talk to me"

He quickly shrugged her off "Leave me alone"

By now Scourge had walked off leaving the fox alone. She sighed slouching and fell back into the chair Tails had been sitting in. It was pretty scummy and uncomfortable, but still better than the floor.

It took her a moment but Nicole was trying to catch her attention on the screen. She just barely caught her waving and looked up to the lynx.

In text Nicole frowned "I know it can be hard"

Fiona sighed heavily again "You know that Rosemary asked me to take care of him, right?"

"Yes"

"Well with her gone…. I feel like I'm the only one who can help him" she leaned forward on the console covering her face in her hands.

Nicole crouched near the bottom of the screen to simulate being closer to her "If you believe that then what will you do?"

"I don't know what I can do, he doesn't want to talk to me. If I try he either avoids me or gets angry. How can you explain anything to someone who refuses to listen?"

"Persistence, I know it may seem obvious but, you have noticed Scourge and I?" The lynx asked.

"I'd have to be blind to not notice Nicole" Fiona smiled, despite wanting help she kinda hoped she could get some answers of what was going on with them.

"Well my basic programming is a personal assistant. With Sally gone I have been somewhat unoccupied. All the information I could learn I was able to instantly download when I was plugged into Rosemary's systems, either information I already knew, which was most of it or a small amount of new information that had been accumulated in two years. So I ran out of exploration quickly there"

"So like you said you essentially got bored?"

"Yes, Sally and other freedom fighters helped me in learning to be more Mobian… but they are obviously gone. So I decided to look for a way to learn on my own. I saw Scourge and realized he might need some kind of help, that filled in my assistant programming and he is…. Very different to other people I interact with, so it would be a good experience to learn from and with him" she explained, she seemed to be off topic, but hopefully she'd get back to it.

"Learning from him was hard, I'd need to talk to him. He was resistant… and rude too. But I kept trying and eventually I've slowly broken down his barriers and seems to enjoy my company now" clearly her lesson being that persistence would show she cared. What kind of friend tries to talk once then gives up?

Fiona nodded getting the lesson and smiled warmly "Oh ya I have noticed him enjoying you being around. Hell he went back for you during the attack, told us to not wait for him too" she gave a teasing grin. She had also found that interesting too, he'd never risked himself for someone else before.

Nicole looked away sheepishly "Really? He did not mention that, I assumed he ended up there and just happened to be there to save me"

The fox smiled again and finally asked "So, what's up with you two, or atleast what you think?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well it's obvious this is more than just a experiment now right? He seems to genuinely like having you around and you seem to like being with him too"

"Well I guess I do, I enjoy speaking with him. I enjoy listening to his stories when he feels like talking about it and I like getting him to smile"

"You like seeing that green guy smile?" Fiona chuckled.

"Well shouldn't I want to see other people smile too?" the lynx asked confused.

"Well of course but, tell me, do you get a different feeling seeing him smile?"

The lynx frowned confused "Why do you ask?"

"No reason I guess" the fox shrugged with a mischievous smile.

Nicole continued to look confused but smiled when Fiona got up looking better.

"I hope what I said helped" she smiled waving.

"Ya it did, thanks, I'm gonna go take a nap for now ok?"

She nodded "I will keep an eye on things, if something comes up I can turn on the alarms"

Fiona nodded and looked through the bed rooms. Unlike Tails she couldn't help but frown and think about her former friends. There wasn't much in each room anymore, whatever had been inside was either burned, stolen or succumbed to time and absence of care.

She may not have been with them for a long time but seeing all this made her wonder how things could have gone. Perhaps she could have been able to walk through these doors and be greeted by a smile from a friend.

Sadly she left and ruined any chance if that.

She sighed and decided sleeping in those rooms would be wrong, nobody would say it would be but she felt sleeping in there would not only be wrong but a little disrespectful.

So she found a wall to sit up against and doze off.

Now she was afraid of waking up, last time she fell asleep the bases ceiling fell in.

Luckily for her waking up was more pleasant than last time, no attacking or waking inside a cage.

She rubbed her eyes and yawned. After getting up she twisted left and right crack her back and looked around tiredly. Nobody was around but she could hear some voices in the next room.

She followed the sounds and found that the room had been furnished with the best stuff around the base. A few chairs that seemed to be able to hold someone's weight, a small table and a desk that looked more like it was gonna be used for preparing food or something.

At the table was Shadow, Silver and Blaze. Looked like Blaze just woke up while the two hedgehogs were fully awake.

"… It was nice of you to look around and find some furniture to make this place a little more comfortable" Blaze said.

Silver just shrugged it was nothing, I just used my telekinesis to carry everything" despite his recovering wounds he sounded like using his powers hadn't tired him out too much.

"You should have let me do it and let you rest" Shadow said.

"I can handle myself Shadow, no need to worry about me. I'm not the inexperienced hedgehog you met on his butt cowering from a gun"

The ebony hedgehog scoffed "Don't get over confident from a few fights, you are still far from being having the experience the rest of us have"

"Ya but I'm not a kid and I can handle my powers unlike before" he defended himself.

"I'm not saying you have the capabilities to be like us, I'm saying experience is what you need, and with enough time you'll realize how much you'll appreciate rest" Shadow calmly explained, wasn't trying to beat him down he was just overly eager sometimes.

Blaze piped in "I understand wanting to be useful, but he is right, you're more useful getting back to full health sooner than pushing yourself for no reason"

Silver sighed looking down at the table "I just hate feeling useless, I get what you mean it's just that…"

"We know Silver, we've been through it. It is something you just need to get used to. It is far more dangerous putting someone who's hurt on the battlefield than not having him there at all" Blaze explained.

Shadow nodded and continued "Yes, having to worry about an injured teammate puts another problem on all our minds"

"Makes me sound like I'm a burden" Silver sighed.

"No of course you aren't, if anything you are one of the more powerful people on the team, having you at full strength is a benefit" Blaze smiled kindly.

Silver looked up to her "Thanks Blaze, means a lot" his smile was warm and appreciative.

Shadow had to awkwardly sit there at the two smiled to one another but Fiona was there to interrupt and embarrass them "Hey you two lovebirds, and Shadow, how are things?"

Blaze looked away while Silver looked down trying to hide his blush.

Shadow just nodded to her "Nothing much, Silver just moved some things around so we could have some kind of normal around here"

"Thanks Silv, where's everyone else?"

He recomposed himself "Uhh, I think Scourge went for a run, Nicole is in sleepmode and Tails has been in his old workshop all day, or maybe he was out getting scrap or junk.. We literally haven't heard from him since we watched Sonic, well besides some noises inside the workshop" Silver explained.

"Really?" she sighed "Hopefully he's working single mindedly on that weapon he mentioned then take a break"

"Well hopefully he's nearly done, he could use some sleep if he's been straight working" Silver nodded.

"I'll handle him in a bit, or atleast try" she sighed.

"Good idea" Blaze nodded.

"So anything else going on?" The fox asked taking the last seat.

"Besides these two staring at each other for uncomfortably long times, no" Shadow smirked.

Silver once again swung his head down a dull thud on the table.

A couple hours later…

Fiona had actually managed to go and rummage through the city and found a book or two that weren't totally destroyed. She was gonna go and read them later but hearing nothing inside the workshop made her wonder if Tails was done for now.

So she decided to take a look and walked to the door. She found it unlocked. It made her wonder why he hadn't locked it, maybe the lock wasn't working.

She went inside and found Tails sitting at the desk. That weapon he was working on was nearby, still unfinished but he was huddled over a bit head in hands. She guessed he must be exhausted and may have fallen asleep.

She approached but her footsteps made him rub at his eyes and wipe away from his nose.

"What do you want?" he didn't look at her but his voice gave it all away. He wasn't doing too hot and had been crying.

"Tails are you alright?" she asked taking one step more for now.

"I'm fine, just taking a break, what do you want?" he asked again, a little harsher.

"I wanted to see how you're doing, none of us have seen you in awhile, thought you might have dozed off"

He didn't answer for a second but nodded "Ya, sort of went for a nap, so I'm fine" sounded like he wanted her gone but she wasn't going anywhere.

"Could use something to eat I bet, Shadow found emergency rations deeper in the place. Guess they had sort of a plan for something like this"

"I'm fine" he rolled his eyes.

"Nah come, on, it will do ya good to get out of here for a bit and just relax"

"I don't need to relax, I was working at this pace for years, I can handle" he growled.

She frowned "Tails please just rest ok, have something to eat. Your mom wouldn't…"

"MY MOM WOULD BE ALIVE RIGHT NOW IF NOT FOR YOU!" he was suddenly at his feet rage and agony in his eyes inches away from attacking her.

"What happened wasn't anyone's fault" she cowered a little but tried to show she wasn't afraid, it failed with her ears folding back.

"Yes it is, if you hadn't come and found me, my mom and I would still be there alive and well. Now it's all gone. I worked for years on that place, worked for years to make her my mom and now she and it is all gone!" Tails yelled even louder.

Suddenly all her of her own pent up anger exploded out at him coming back with equal force "Oh and hiding away and doing nothing would have been better? You sitting in there like the only world was in there? Avoiding the big problem everyone on the surfaced had to face. You were content to hide away like a coward!"

The very word made him go wide eyed before grabbing her collar with both of his hands and pushing her against the desk "Coward!? You call me a coward? You ran away from responsibility? You hit a kid doing it and did all those bad things without a fucking care and that bitch smile on your face! I still tried to help people afterwards, you only hurt people from then on!"

His female counterpart was terrified now, she was cleanly in his grip now and pinned "I was scared, you caught me in position I could never explain, so I panicked and there was no going back"

"You panicked!? You did everything you could show which side you were on"

"What do you want me to do? Admit I was wrong? Because I already have, you let me and everyone else in and led us to that prison and factory. You gave us a place to fight back and gave us a purpose. You knew the risks but you knew what was right!" she growled back on her tippy toes.

"Everything was fine until you came, why couldn't you all just leave me alone!?"

"Because deep inside I knew you were in there, and I was right, you came back. I missed that Tails, I missed seeing that smile, the wonder in his eyes… I missed all of him, I regretted doing what I did but how could I explain why I was sneaking off with Scourge. At first it was exactly what it looked like but soon I saw the real him and I was planning to tell you guys, give a false sense of security to him and one day we'd catch him together, but you found me too soon. How could I explain all that and not look like I was lying, so I was forced into what happened. I was scared… scared of what you or Sonic might do….. I was so scared of what you'd think of me" she sniffed beginning to cry.

"All I ever wanted was to do something right, I'd never had a chance to do the right thing my entire life, imprisoned since I was a child, grave robbing with Nick…. Then I joined the freedom fighters and I felt so proud. I hid my past because I didn't want it effecting what you thought of me, but it was no use! Then I tried to help catch Scourge and it all fell apart… and from then on I was stuck in the life I'd been given…. I'm sorry… please I'm so sorry…. I just wanted to do what's right once in my life before this world finally kills me" tears streamed down her face filled with regret begging for forgiveness.

"I saw who you became… and then you came back…. Then it all went to hell and now you aren't him anymore… your mom asked me if I'd take care of you if anything happened… I'm not even doing it as a favor, it's because I know who you are, and this isn't you. I want what's best for you just like her" the grip on her shirt didn't loosen at all, but through her tears she could see he was crying too, but behind the tears he still showed plenty of rage.

Before he could speak she whispered through hiccups "She loved…. Just like I do…"

 **Ah this was much shorter than last chapter but that's because I hated leaving such an open space between updates and having such a short chapter didn't seem fair. But here's this one. About 3.5k if anyone cared.**

 **So let me know what you think, do you think her story is believable? And we'll see more of Sonic probably next chapter.**

 **Live long and prosper**

 **Admiralkirk**


	29. A tragic end

**A/N Hey so last chapter dropped some bombs, Sonic briefly explained how he got back to HQ, but we still don't know where he is, we'll learn that. Oh and Fionas last words and confessing what truly happened. Once again I'd like to know if you think that's a believable reaction to the situation. I hope it does cause I feel like it could happen especially since her past had come to light by then and most of it was bad.**

 **So let's go…**

Silence reigned over the two foxes. The rage in the male foxes eyes was gone but the tears remained. The female fox had no idea how those words escaped her mouth but now they were out there and she couldn't find a reason to take them back or explain they weren't as strong as they sounded.

Tails only stared at her, through her, like she wasn't even there anymore.

Fiona shuddered, what was going on in his head, his face unreadable. All she knew was she needed to have an answer.

It took what felt like forever until he finally blinked, causing another tear to escape both eyes. Finally I could see emotion in his eyes, I just couldn't tell what it was, it kept changing.

Finally she felt his hands shift and for a moment she thought he was letting her go but just as his hands loosened he suddenly pulled her away from the desk and pushed away from him.

"NO! You don't get to say that now! You don't get to say that after everything that's happened!" he yelled facing away, I could see more tears escaping his eyes falling to the tabletop.

His answer stung her badly "What…"

"No fuck you Fiona. You don't get to tell me that. You destroyed me after I told you that, what makes you think you have the right to say it to me now!?"

She was silent her tears beginning to fall again, she felt like she was being ripped in two. She fought so long to hide these feelings from even herself and now that she finally admitted them to him and herself he turned her down. Karmic justice at it's finest.

"How could I say that to you back then, you were just a kid, I couldn't do anything even if I realized I felt this way back then. I rationalized and hid from it. I did it so much I believed it. What would people have thought if I accepted your advances?... Why do you think I went with Sonic, to distract myself… I couldn't take advantage of you, I would have never forgiven myself… you deserved to grow up first. But like always I try to do right and I utterly failed"

Tails continued to lean on the workbench refusing to look at her hiccupping. Tears fell to the table constantly and after awhile Fiona weakly spoke up "Please say something"

"You had feelings for me back then… but wanted to protect me and let me grow… then you made a plan to catch Scourge and that backfired and in the confusion you panicked and hurt everyone on the team including me" he took a deep breath through his nose "What makes you think I believe you"

"Tails I can't lie about this anymore to you, it hurts so much because you're right this is all my fault! I didn't mean for it to happen but it did and I ran from my decisions… and yet here we both are and you were the one hurt the most and I turned out fine up until two years ago" she pleaded on her knees now desperate to make him believe her.

He finally turned with tears in his eyes afraid of what he might be about to hear, angry that he'd been lied to again for all those years "So explain why you helped him out of jail!?"

Fiona looked away ashamed of that, ashamed she had been so weak. She looked down refusing to look at him "I was so weak, he was the only friend I had… loneliness along with being on the run, or get my one ally back…. It felt like an easy choice at the time. What was worse is I became someone different when I found him, I became the Fiona you knew after I hit you. I had to be someone different or he might leave me behind…. I was so afraid of being alone" she wrapped her arms around herself "I was so afraid to feel like when I was kid, alone in a cell… alone in the dark with no one to call for help and no hope"

After she was done and looking pathetic huddled up into herself on her knees his eyes softened The last time he saw her so completely helpless was after he knocked her out and locked her to the wall in the darkness. She had been so scared of being alone in the dark and broke into uncontrollable tears, like she were a child again. Now she was in front of him again looking nearly exactly the same, afraid of being alone, left behind and forgotten.

He thought back to the past, she never wanted the Freedom fighters learning her past in fear that they'd kick her out for her criminal past. She was afraid of losing trust from Scourge and the Freedom fighters so took the easier path to be with atleast somebody, even if it was Scourge. Her recounting her story of being abandoned by Scourge had been filled with so much rage. She was telling the truth, she had been so desperate to not lose her friends and be left alone again. And now she revealed she risked her freedom just for all of that too.

All the rage escaped him realizing this, she had been afraid all her life and desperate. Trying anything she could to keep those feelings from coming back. It only made sense she eventually messed up that bad.

She had such a hard life before he had met her, he had forgotten that. He should have been first to realize trauma changes you and effects you forever. He should have been the first to realize her actions were due to her past. Her logic was far different on specific stuff compared to others.

With all that in his mind the rage escaped him as he watched the woman become a scared ball of tears. He slowly approached her and once right in front of her he got to one knee to get back to her level.

"Fiona…" she continued to cry with her eyes closed too scared to see his hate anymore.

"Please open your eyes"

"No I can't, I can't keep going like this isn't all my fault, if I hadn't left you wouldn't have left and you would have been there to make a proper plan to defeat Eggman, but instead everyone is dead. I tried to do good, got scared and it got everyone killed!" she sunk deeper into herself now blaming herself entirely, no wonder she had been trying so hard to convince Tails to help her, she had so much guilt built up and wanted to fix it all.

"You can't blame yourself for something like that, nobody could have known your actions would lead to all of this. I chose to leave too so people could easily blame me as well" The kitsune frowned.

She didn't immediately respond but then asked "What makes you think I won't screw everything up again? Why don't you make me leave?" she had expected to be forced away much sooner.

He wasn't sure how to answer, everything hinged on them not screwing up. At this point they were the only people who could stop Eggman, besides Sonic, wherever he was "That's because I need you ok?" he gently took a hand that was hugging around herself trying to coax her out of her ball "Everyone needs you. Listen, you brought us all together, you started this team and if we lost you then I'm not sure how long this team could last" with his mind clear of rage he could see how important she was to this team.

"But I killed your mom, you even said it, had I not shown up she'd still be here and your home wouldn't be a mound of dirt!"

The male frowned "I was just delaying the inevitable with my mom…. I was lying to myself"

The female fox slowly tried to stop crying and finally opened her eyes to see him, she was terrified of what she was gonna see still imagining that he'll be angry with her.

"Hey there's those eyes" Tails smiled warmly.

Seeing him not angry at her made her slowly lift her head cautiously revealing more of her face.

"Oh dang"

"Huh what!?" she asked worried at what bothered him.

"Well, here take this. You're kinda leaking" he jokingly smiled handing a few napkins to her.

She realized she must have looked horrible, tearing up and drooling out her nose. She wiped away what she could feeling really terrible for looking so awful.

"I must look terrible" she then blew her nose.

"Maybe, but I know it's temporary. Just stop crying and that will be enough for me" he said softly.

She tried to do as he said but it was hard since she was still half crying but Tails looked away trying to think of how to proceed "Listen I'm sorry… I just, I wish that she could still be around but at the same time I know that I had to move on."

He sighed "Come on, get up take a seat alright" he gently grabbed her arm and helped her to her feet. She still sort of hid her face from him but he didn't mind, she was clearing up and slowly looking better.

He pulled out an old stool and let her sit "Now just clean yourself up ok"

"Thank you" she hiccupped wiping her eyes "Maybe we can talk about something else" she hoped that they could both stop talking about the past and get past it all.

"Of course, how is everyone out there?" Tails asked assuming that'd be a good way to go.

"Oh ya" she sniffed "Well like I said Shadow found food, it's been partially eaten from, I guess that was Sonic. Nicole looked through more files and found a cache of power rings so she'll be able to use her mobian form for a good while. Silver moved some furniture so we have a semblance of a kitchen"

"Well I'm glad our luck has led us to some good stuff. How's everyone feeling?"

"Well Scourge ran off to stretch his legs, everyone else is talking when I came in here" she gulped down some gross stuff in the back of her throat.

"Well there isn't a lot to do I guess" he shrugged "I might be able to find something to help with that, I'll need time for that"

"That would be very helpful" Fiona nodded smiling a little, he was thinking of doing things besides weapons, that was a good sign.

"But until then…. I got to ask, did you mean what you said?" he looked to her softly hoping to encourage the answer out instead of sounding like he was forcing her to talk about it.

Fiona took a deep breath and nodded after a short moment of silence "Yes… like I said… I was just afraid of taking advantage, so I stayed away and when you, against all odds, kept coming back I tried to find a way out so I started dating Sonic. Obviously he turned out to be Scourge but I kept up the idea when the real Sonic came back. I coaxed him to give me a chance. I just hated how it nearly ruined your friendship with him" she looked away, it occurred to her very early on that she was basically avoiding Tails and ruining his relationship with his best friend doing it.

"But I had to keep it up or eventually slip up from one of your advances. God I sound like a pedophile…. I swear it wasn't that you were a kid ok, I still feel exactly the same, and it was you and your personality. You were just so damn cute and thoughtful, yet so grown up for your age at times" She frantically explained trying to explain.

"Maybe I am a pedo, but I've never felt this way about any other kid in my life, so I feel like it's specifically you" she sighed sadly feeling his accusing eyes on her "I mean once again I tried to do something right and distract myself and I nearly broke you and Sonic apart…. Maybe that was another reason I went with Scourge, I couldn't handle the guilt of knowing I broke you two up so I brought you back together… through emotional pain" she felt like a terrible person.

The male fox watched her explain slowly understanding the full story. If what she said was true then he agreed, she wasn't some kind of predator. He was sure of that actually. He appreciated her trying to restrain herself, as much as he would have loved to be her boyfriend back then he knew now with more age that would have been a mistake. So yes he appreciated her controlling herself.

He finally spoke accidentally leaving her in silence for awhile "Well I believe you. Thanks for controlling yourself. Had I known back then I may have had a heart attack knowing you liked me but, ya I didn't need a girlfriend at that age"

She weakly smiled glad he agreed and believed her "I still hate that I had to hurt you so much, in hindsight I had a lot more options, I could have done so many things differently…"

"But it's in the past, something we need to both stop living in" Tails interrupted.

She nodded "I guess so"

With that Tails got close and gave her a gentle hug and after a short moment embracing the surprised fox he said "Listen, I trust you out there in fights, I trust you to stand by the rest of us and not run and trust that you're on board for this mission completely"

Her voice was muffled buried in his shoulder "I hear a but coming"

He huffed with an amused smile "Buuuuuut, It may take awhile to trust you on a more intimate level. So here's my proposal, our feelings are out in the open between us now and I guess we can't hide from them, but trust in this area will have to come a bit slower.

"I get what ya mean" she sniffed accidentally letting a tear of joy escape her eyes hearing him accept her feelings.

"Good, we won't tell anyone about this for now, that good for you?"

"Yes" she nodded into his shoulder wrapping her arms around his chest tightly "Thank you for giving me another chance" that was sort of a double meaning, first allowing her to help save the world and second for this.

"If anyone deserves a second chance after that display it's you" he chuckled trying to make a joke.

Luckily she laughed in his shoulder then nuzzled in a bit more.

The male kitsune smiled and rubbed her bck while nuzzled in and for a moment forgot all about the world outside. It felt like he'd finally reached the end of a long road that had no turns but had been very bumpy and dangerous all the way through. It felt a little cliché but after so long this might finally all work out between them.

His mini zone out was interrupted though as she said "Tails, I promise I won't leave again"

"I believe you" was all he needed to say to make her smile, he'd lost faith in her a long time ago that didn't help her. So faith would more than likely help her now.

The two were quiet for awhile just enjoying the moment until a knock was heard at the door.

"Well guess that's all over, come on we got to get back to business" Tails groaned.

"Damn, I was almost asleep" she joked slowly pushing away with a fake frown. She quickly wiped at her face one last time while Tails walked to the door signaling her to keep what they talked about on the down low.

He took one last deep breath to calm himself down and opened the door to reveal Blaze.

"Greetings, I was wondering if you wanted to take a break and have something to eat, it is around dinner time?"

Tails looked back at Fiona "That sound good with you?"

She nodded "Ya, I'm starving" she was already getting up and doing a light jog to the door.

Blaze just smiled seeing that whatever Fiona did, Tails was leaving the workshop and seemed to be in a good mood. The cat led them back and inside everyone was sitting around relaxing.

Scourge must have come back while they were talking because he was at the table listening to Silver talk. Nicole also was up and walking around and had taken a seat beside Scourge.

"Hey, so finally taking a break from your nerd stuff?" Scourge asked arms crossed.

Ignoring his comment he just nodded "Ya, needed some air"

"We're all glad to see you are taking a moment to rest" Nicole smiled kindly.

"Well I need food some time right?"

After he said that everyone remembered that there was food and ate already rationing incase they had to stay here for a long time. Nicole had learned through digging through the computer files that these supplies had been placed inside the headquarters a year before Eggmans attack. Sonic and Sally agreed to have an emergency plan, the food was part of that plan.

"See anything worth noting on your run?" Tails asked Scourge partially through the meal.

"Not really, if fat ass knows we're here he's not showing it"

"Good to hear" the fox nodded then looked around "Anything else going on with anyone else?"

His open attitude surprised everyone, it's like his home and mom hadn't died recently. So everyone relaxed and tried to think of a way to begin talking.

Silver was first to speak, not hard to predict "Well so far this place seems pretty secure, besides the giant hole in the wall" he said pointing a thumb backwards in the direction of that hole Tails came in from.

"Unfortunately I can't fix it, if I do any changed to the exterior somebody will eventually notice" The kitsune sighed.

"Perhaps that works to our advantage" Shadow said "It's such an obvious weakness and can't be changed without risk, who would want to hide here? Well it's such a bad hiding place it becomes a good one"

"Maybe, but it would be a good idea to have a look out" Tails said. Everyone else agreed to this as well.

The group ate rather happily compared to how tense it had been hours ago. Now with everyone calm and clear minded they might finally be able to continue forward with their mission. Only one thing was left to do, Tails needed to watch the rest of Sonics video logs.

Since everyone was done and scattered, besides Fiona and Tails the two quietly talked to one another about what they'd do.

"So I think I'll just get to know the building, I mean I never lived here but I should get to know the layout" Fiona shrugged.

The kitsune nodded "I'll be at the computer, I'm gonna watch through Sonics videos" he was clearly trying to hide remorse of having to watch his friend possibly slip away from loneliness.

Fiona frowned looking at him then gently placed a hand on his shoulder "If you need someone to watch next to you…"

"No I'll be fine" he whispered glad she was concerned, but he wanted to watch them alone, he wasn't sure why but he'd only ask for help if he really needed it. He still gave her a smile as she got up giving his shoulder a small squeeze before walking off.

Taking a moment to make sure he was cool and collected he got up and walked to the console again sitting in the damaged chair. He accessed the video logs and found the second video log which was dated as a day after the first and opened it. As it loaded up he sat back in the seat patiently waiting for answers.

The dark screen became fuzz for half a second then revealed the same image as before. Sonic still looked bad but he looked like he had proper gauze cover his wounds.

He still looked tired, but that might be because of his wounds were making everything harder. He also looked more cleaned up having cleaned up his fur.

He was looking to the right then looked to the camera "Ok, so I have decided to continue making video logs, not only does it help me think but…. Being able to talk to something helps"

He took a deep breath "Well anyway I got downstairs and got into the emergency supplies Sally and I got built" he frowned obviously feeling guilty that something made to serve many people for over a year was now just his.

"In there was also med kits so I got some real bandages now, so that's good"

He spun the chair a bit looking off screen "And besides that I realized power is probably gonna go down at any point. So I looked around and found an old blueprint Tails made a long time ago" he sighed remembering the young fox "It's a blueprint to make a generator that makes power through spinning something like a giant hamster wheel, perfect for me"

"So I'm gonna try and build that before power goes out, once that's done I was thinking of trying to find help… Maybe I can make a new team… it will be hard to find anyone with good enough skills for the job"

"Umm… besides that I think everything is how it was before. I'll make another log when I got a good update" he leaned in closer and hit a key ending the feed.

With that done Tails knew that Sonic was the one who made the generator. He was also glad to see he hadn't lost any hope, he was still trying to make things right and get help.

The fox opened the next one which was dated one week after the second.

Once again it took a moment for it to load up and the feed opened to see the blue hedgehog. He was looking much better, less tired and nearly fully healed.

"So this is log three, I got the generator up and ready to go, was a little surprised it went by so smoothly, maybe Tails rubbed off on me a bit" he chuckled clearly proud of himself "It was a good thing too, power finally stopped working a couple hours later"

"So I headed out to find people and well… I was really surprised to find there seems to be a bunch of small towns holding people. They are protected by eggbots. I'd g and destroy all the guards of a town and talk to people but the first town I found was burned to the ground. You know what that tells me? That Eggman would kill everyone if he even got a wiff of me being their" He looked away thinking about that. So little people left on Mobius and he'd kill more.

"So I can't get close to anyone without risking lives, I'll keep trying, maybe I can get lucky"

With that the third video ended.

Tails had guessed that Sonic hadn't be able to do that much, he was glad he kept trying, but that didn't answer much.

He opened the next video, it was dated one month after the first video, why the long gap?

This time Sonic didn't look better than the last video. In fact he looked depressed again "Like I said last video I've kept looking for help but…. Still no luck. But I did see something strange today. I found a town completely encircled by a wall. I have no idea what was going on with that but there no way to get even close to the place without being seen so I had to leave it behind"

"Besides that nothing much is happening, see you next time" he said sounding a bit forced.

When the video ended Tails took a moment to think about how close he'd been to finding Shadow and how safe the town actually was with Shadow using the chaos emerald as a way to make a stalemate. So very close and he got it wrong and passed it by. If he had made that risk, he'd have been with Shadow.

He leaned onto console covering his face at the terrible luck. He almost didn't want to watch the rest, he could already tell Sonic had nowhere to go and nobody he could call upon without hurting others.

He felt a soft hand on his shoulder and lifted his head looking back.

"Fiona" he smiled.

"Is it really that bad" she asked wondering why he was slouched over.

Tails just sighed "Only one month in and he's already starting to show signs of giving up"

"He wouldn't give up, he's Sonic the hedgehog" she frowned.

"He's alone, and can't do anything without hurting himself or others. I've seen him bored in past, but this is much worse" he remembered back when Sonic would get bored and beg for anything to do to pass the time.

"So I guess you haven't learned anything yet?" She asked leaning on the desk.

"I learned on thing, it's kinda depressing though. He came across Shadow and Silvers town, he noticed the walls but was too afraid to go inside. Had he known Shadow was there and had the place in a stalemate he'd have gone but he didn't"

"What!?" Fiona asked shocked "He was that close to finding them, shit…." She was clearly also thinking the exact same thing he had.

"Chaos…" she muttered.

"I know…" Tails sighed looking back to the screen "I'm gonna keep watching, if you don't want to watch you can leave"

She shook her head "No, I'm right here beside you"

He smiled and checked to see what the next video was and found there was only one left.

"He didn't make another log for nearly two months?" Tails asked aloud.

"That doesn't sound very good" Fiona agreed.

The kitsune clicked on it and it loaded up. They were both silent while the little circle span around until the feed started up.

Both were surprised to see Sonic was right back to looking terrible, his fur was totally messy and his quills weren't as spikey as before dropping slightly. His fur looked much more dull than before being half covered in ash, he clearly hadn't been working on hygiene.

He looked totally defeated slouching over and almost looked dead inside.

"So…." His dry voice sound completely void of emotion, whoever Sonic had been before he was gone. All the guilt, pain and lack of real options had finally defeated him.

"… I haven't done one of these for awhile" he half mindedly scratched his head a bit of dirt falling out of his quills.

"So… I think I said I'd talk more, and have a plan by the time I did this again but… I can't. I can't do anything, there's nowhere to go. People would die if I talked to anyone and I'd die if I tried to do anything…. I just can't do anything" he leaned on desk groaning before subtly beginning to cry.

"I'm so sorry" he shuddered through his crying "I failed everyone"

The video simply went on for a minute and a half of him crying. He was completely broken, without friends, without any achievable goals and unimaginable guilt.

"I'm so sorry to everyone, to all the people I failed, to all my friends… but I just wish… I just" he sighed loudly trying to clear his eyes and throat "I just want to talk to Tails one more time…"

Fiona looked down at him and tried to get a read on what was happening in his head but his blank stare really only showed that he was intently watching.

"I've always wanted to redo that conversation with him. I didn't mean to sound like I was trying to stomp on his dreams" He sighed, he was clearly talking about the conversation Tails had mentioned in his story after meeting Shadow and Silver.

"I just saw that he was distancing himself from all of us. We could all see it coming, he was staying in his shop more and talking less. I just knew if he took that deal from the government he'd just disappear even more… I didn't want that, none of us wanted that. He was our friend…. We cared about him…. But of course I didn't think about what I wanted to do, like always, and pushed him away"

He paused thinking back to that conversation but Fiona was watching Tails.

"If I could do things over that'd be the one thing I would have changed" Sonic continued to talk.

"If I could just tell him that before I die…"

The camera shook slightly and Sonic seemed to react to it. The subtitles Nicole had put into the video explained "Eggmans voice in the distance"

"Well I think I've had enough seeing you slowly destroy yourself but it's finally the end of the road"

"What… how did he…?" Sonic got out of the chair and looked around confused.

Within a moment the camera shook violently and knocked Sonic off his feet.

He got to his feet again but several eggbots came out of stealth around him one knocking him back down midway through getting up.

The bots kept him down threatening him any time he tried to move. Within a moment Eggman waltz in with an evil, satisfied grin. Both foxes noticed he came from the direction where that big hole was in the wall, guess that answered where it came from. But they continued to watch in horror.

Eggman laughed "Oh Sonic, I've been watching you for awhile now, it's been quite fun seeing you fall apart, but now is finally the time to end it"

Sonic just struggled he had no words to say the subtitles only saying "Growls mixed with profanity"

Eggman just laughed again then noticed the computer "Oh I'm sorry but, what happens next isn't for viewers, I apologize" he darkly chuckled walking to the console and pressed a key ending the feed.

"Oh chaos…" Fiona shuddered "Tails are you alright?"

"He's gone…"

"Tails…" she whispered just wanting him to look at her.

"He killed him… after everything… Eggman kne he was alive the entire time, where he was and just watched him fall apart before killing him" his anger rising at the cruelty against his best friend.

"We're gonna get him Tails, we'll make him watch his empire fall" Fiona said harshly, but then her voice got much softer "But for now we just need to think clearly and move cautiously"

Tails was clearly holding back some rage, she was right. Anger would only get them killed so he took a deep breath and looked to her again "Thanks, I know we'll get to him eventually"

"Good" she leaned over and gave him a supportive hug that he gladly accepted.

"I just wish I could have said goodbye that's all" Tails sighed.

"I know, when this is all over we'll properly say goodbye, that sound good to you?" Fiona smiled comfortingly.

"Ya" he nodded slightly.

Fiona just watched him for awhile trying to read if this would effect him too badly. But he seemed calm and staring into space.

"Tails?" she asked softly.

He was lightly snapped out of his trance "Sorry, just… trying to get past it" He admitted.

"Well remember if you need some help getting over it I'm here to help alright?" she hoped she could be helpful to him, anything to see him not go back to his closed off angry state.

He nodded with a weak but appreciative smile "I know, and thank you"

She just smiled back and after another minute Tails got up and simply said "We'll get Eggman, but for now let's find something to get our minds off all this"

Fiona smiled and the duo walked away from the console trying to forget what they saw for now.

 **Alright so that's the most recent chapter done, I've been finding it hard to write recently, so little time and the heat actually, and most of all I've been sleeping weird lately, the heat is keeping me up a lot.**

 **Anyway I finally got Tails and Fiona semi together, only took me….. 29 chapters, so to ayone who thought that was taking too damn long. So now I need to get my other plans done. Thanks for reading if you've gotten this far and thanks to anyone who's reviewed.**

 **Live long and prosper**

 **Admiralkirk**


	30. Time to start again

**A/N So Tails and Fiona are finally together. Wow that took awhile, I'm glad people weren't annoyed by the slow burn love story. Thanks for the support. Now I need to get my other plans and stuff. So let's go and get on with chapter 30!**

After learning the tragic end of Sonic the hedgehog and fitting all the dots together Tails explained the story to everyone. His story after the attack, his search for help and eventually finding that to be impossible.

Shadow and Silver were especially shocked to hear Sonic had come across their walled off town and never came to the town and learned he'd be safe there. Shadow particularly gave off signs of some kind of distress; he hid it well enough to hide exactly what he was feeling. Tails guessed it was guilt.

As he continued with more and more details he had to reach the sad conclusion and explain that the hole on the exterior of the building was where Eggman blasted in to surprise Sonic.

Of course Nicole knew all of this since she had, in a fraction of a second watched all the logs the first time she was put into the computer and had made the subtitles for the videos.

The group was silent thinking about what happened. Taken down without a fight, it was no way for a hero like Sonic to go.

"Just another reason to pay Eggman pay" Shadow growled finally breaking the silence, his voice laced with hate.

"We cannot allow our anger to blind us, but yes, when it is all over and he is in our custody, there will be no mercy" Blaze explained her own anger actually making an appearance. A low growl escaped her throat surprising them all further.

"That will come with time" Tails agreed even more determined than before.

Fiona then spoke "But for now we should cool off, this news will effect our thinking. Taking a bit to just chill out and clear our heads will help"

"That's a good idea" Tails leaned to her and quietly praised making her smile.

Silver nodded in agreement "Ya, what'd you always say after I got frustrated when I couldn't get stronger with my powers Shadow?"

"Take a breath andcalm down" the mentor smiled slightly glad he remembered that lesson.

"Then that is what we will do" Tails nodded.

They nodded in agreement and split up in different directions.

Silver happened to be next to Blaze was walking alongside her. He still looked shaken by the news he learned, He'd always dreamed of meeting Sonic and now he was gone. Don't get him wrong, he loved being able to meet and learn from him but he always claimed to never be a hero. Silver always wanted to believe he was but he wondered that if Shadow wasn't a hero what was one that claimed to be one be like.

Besides all that Silver grew up learning of Sonic and his friends, they were amazing and courageous., completely unstoppable. That is until two years ago.

"Silver?" Blazes voice snapped him from his sad thoughts.

"Huh, I'm sorry, were you talking I zoned out" he apologized.

"No, you just seem to be taking the news hard" the cat clearly was concerned and wanted to make him smile.

"Well… didn't you know him and his friends… aren't you taking it hard?"

"Of course I am, but I have faced many deaths from my world. You get used to it" the cat said clearly not happy she could say that.

Silver was quiet again head down.

"Do not let this demoralize you Silver, we're all still together, we can defeat Eggman" Blaze encouraged getting a little closer to him.

"How, he killed everyone including Sonic, they were all heroes, battle hardened and years of experience. We're fewer in number and I'm still green as grass" Silver asked stopping and turning to look at her fear in his eyes.

"Don't put yourself down like that, you have done amazing things in the short time we've known eachother" her voice stern truly believing that.

He shook his head "Only after someone told me to do it…. And I nearly died"

"Yes…. That was… difficult to watch" the cat sighed looking away.

"Ya it was even more difficult to live through" Silver huffed joking lightly.

"I don't believe it's funny, I didn't enjoy seeing you cringe from small movements"

Silver smiled but said "It wasn't that bad, I had someone pretty watching over me" not the exquisite way of saying it but it earned him a blush from the cat.

"Well… thank you, I… your welcome" the cat was actually taken off guard.

Silver smiled amused by her blush and looked around trying to find something less depressing to talk about "Soooo… got an idea to pass the time?"

"Perhaps we could just talk?" Blaze suggested not fully sure.

Silver agreed guessing they could find something to do after walking a bit. He was totally stumped for what to say.

Finally Blaze asked, quite suddenly "Back at the orphanage, was there anyone who you liked being around?"

The question caught him off guard and forced him to recompose before answering "Uhhh… well I guess there were a few, I like the caretakers, and one or two of the kids my age, the younger kids liked me"

Blaze could already guess why the younger kids liked Silver. In general little kids looked up to older kids but Silver was also a really nice guy and his personalitywas light hearted, encouraging and supportive.

"Who were these lucky few who decided to be your friends?" wanting to know about the one or two kid she considered to be the smart kids.

"Oh well another boy who was half a year younger than me. He was a rabbit and came to the orphanage much…. Later than me, he was old enough to understand what was happening to him and remember his parents faces"

"They abandoned him!?" Blaze suddenly stopped turned to fully face him.

"No, well sort….. the dad did leave and well….. his mom was sick a lot and she passed away from it" Silver explained hastily defending the mother.

The cat calmed down hearing that, atleast he had one parents who cared or wanted to take responsibility…. Although it may have been because she simply couldn't handle her conscious if she left him too. She decided not to ask.

"And the other?"

"The other was a girl a few months older than me and was a dog, she was also left on the doorstep like me. She had a hard time talking to people and the only reason I was able to talk to her was because she was bullied a little bit. I found her scared and crying one day and with… about an hour of trying to gain a little bit of trust she finally spoke to me and we became friends" Silver explained smiling warmly remembering the girls face.

Blaze smiled seeing yet again he was a good hearted person.

"That was very kind of you, I'm sure she appreciated the effort you put in to show her you weren't there to hurt her"

Silver just shrugged humble as ever "Ah I just wanted to see if she was ok that's all" he shied away avoiding eye contact.

The cat would have continued with the praise but found his humility admirable and cute. Maybe that was why she'd found it easy to talk to him.

Silver just shrugged looking back at her "I'm sure you've helped more people than me, I mean you were the protector of the sol emeralds. I bet tons of people wanted them and would have done bad things with them back in your world"

Blaze frowned, he was right but she also eventually failed, the evidence of her failure all around them.

He noticed and realized his mistake "Oh I'm sorry I didn't mean to…"

"No I know what you meant, I just feel guilty for having my guard down. I dropped my guard and wasn't ready for an attack and now your home has burned"

Silver was quick with his comeback "Blaze nobody would expect you to be on guard every second of your life, that's pretty much impossible, what happened was out of your control and nobody blames you"

"But I do" Blaze snapped back refusing to believe this wasn't all her fault.

"Blaze, please just calm down"

"No! I was trained to protect those emeralds and I didn't! I'm not like those people who want them for bad, they can fail and fail and fail over and over again and simply try again. If I fail even once they would take full advantage and use them to hurt people, and somebody finally did and look what happened!" Blaze was suddenly yelling and hysterical, very unlike her. Perhaps this had been bubbling up inside her.

Silver would have said something but he didn't know what to say to that. She was right, she could defend them emeralds forever but she only needed to fail once to make it all useless.

"Blaze all I know is that if we don't get them back and kick Eggman's… well…. Ass, then he'll just keep using them to do bad. What's worse, regain your emeralds back and continue to protect them and save whoever hasn't been killed or give up and let them die?" He sounded a little like he was pleading but it was uneeded.

"Silver" she smiled ""I'm not giving up, I'm here and fighting along side you and everyone else right? No, I just regret what that I allowed this all to happen"

Silver sighed lightly smiling "Good, I wouldn't want you to leave"

"That is very kind of you to say, thank you" she smiled feeling really good hearing him say that, he wanted her around. It made her blush a little.

Silver was glad to see her smile and asked "So…. What now?"

"Perhaps we could just walk?" oddly she felt like that's all she wanted, to just walk with him, she wouldn't even mind if it was quietly.

Elsewhere right after everyone split up…

Scourge walked off and realized Nicole had silently followed him by his side. He wasn't sure why she was so quiet, she knew Sonic had died, she watched the videos already and made subtitles. Why had she been ok up until now? Maybe it was some computer thing where she blocked her emotions for the time being.

Admittedly he had been quiet too, he wasn't sure why.

"Are you ok?" to his surprise he hadn't said that, she had,

"Why would I not be ok? Sonic was never my friend, he was my rival…. Hell I wanted him dead" he said absolutely sure that would anger her.

"I know but… you're quiet? If that were true, I'd have expected some…. Gloating?" she seemingly asked, with a side of caution.

"I knew I'd get my ass kicked if I did that" he felt that was obvious.

Both were silent for awhile until Nicole asked "I'm scared…"

He looked away, it was hard to admit he was scared too, but felt he had to say something "Don't worry, everyone can protect you"

She shook her head sadly "No, I'm scared about you?"

"Scared of me, think I'm gonna betray you all?" he normally wouldn't be angry but coming from her, someone he thought trusted him, it hurt him deeply.

She gasped "No, I didn't mean I'm scared of you, I'm scared….. for you" she looked down avoiding his gaze.

"Scared for me, I'm one of the most capable on this team?"

"You don't understand, what if…. Well…. I can't help but feel you're gonna die" she said stuttering her way trough.

"We all could die, go cry to all of them, I'm the most expendable here. My entire life is right is right here. There is nowhere else I'm wanted, nowhere else I'm needed and nowhere else my worthless life would be useful" he yelled, he didn't need her doubting him and it made him angry that she of all people cared for such a bad guy like him.

"Scourge you aren't worthless, we want you here…"

"Of course you do, I'm just another body, just another fighter. If we survive through this they won't want me here any longer and then I will have nowhere to go. Even if I could get to Moebius, why would I? It'd be a waste of time, I have no friends back there, and my throne has been taken from me and I'm officially banished. I have no destination or goal after this is all over"

"You won't leave, I'll convince them to let you stay!" she said hating the idea of him leaving.

"Me leave? They'll all go back to where they want to be when this is over, there will be no one to stay with. Tails might be the only one who stays here and he wouldn't want me here for obvious reasons. Fiona won't want me with her ever again after what I did. Silver and Shadow will go back to their people and Blaze will go back to the Sol universe"

"And what about me?" she asked staring at him intently.

"I don't know, probably stay here I guess, this is your home and it has all the power rings you'll ever want" he said looking away hating the look she was giving him.

"No then you can stay if I'm here!" she made a desperate smile hoping that'd be enough.

"And explain Tails', like he'd let me stay"

"I'm sure you could do something to gain his trust, they let you walk around freely right, that has to count for something?" she frowned, he wouldn't look at her anymore.

"You know how this is, I have nowhere to go, why would I run from the only people protecting me, why I would run from the only thing that could keep me alive? " he asked feeling like this was gonna go in a circle.

"That doesn't mean you don't deserve friends" Nicole whimpered.

"Oh ya and who's my friends here, I've hurt half of the people here somehow including you" he finally turned to face her then froze at what he saw.

Nicole was looking now trying to hide her face once he turned and looked like she was crying her shoulders shuddering slightly.

"Why are you crying" he asked trying to keep his tough guy voice up.

She sniffed, he had no idea she could even cry, he went with that as why he suddenly paused.

"I thought I was your friend" she whimpered.

"Why would you want me as a friend. I've stabbed people in the back, nearly killed several of your friends in the past. I abandoned my most loyal friend and girlfriend and killed people" he listed out his sins, the first one bringing feelings of regret.

She just continued to look down finally whimpering out "People can change" a tear escaped her eye and fell until passing the PDA in her hand making it disappear.

"You don't actually believe that do you?" he asked dismissing her statement.

"But look at Tails, he became that other Tails for awhile!"

"Just means any change is temporary" Scourge huffed.

Suddenly Nicole look at him again and pointed at him "You have no faith in yourself, it's so easy to be the mean bad guy. You wanted to be just like Sonic remember, you wanted to be better then him. You wanted to be a good guy, but you were pushed away and decided being bad was easier!" she accused.

"What are you talking about, I tried to steal Sonics life because I wanted all that attention, I wanted people following me like a true leader, I wanted to prove that I was better than Sonic because no one is better than me even my universal twins" he growled not taking her getting in his face.

"I think that's your excuse. You hated your life, you wanted a better one, filled with friends and doing good. You just have too much pride to say it" the lynx wasn't backing down, which admittedly gave her some respect from her yelling opponent.

Suddenly Scourges voice disappeared hearing her do that "No… I"

His sudden loss for words made Nicole stop crying and look surprised, did she actually…

"No I…. that's not why I… I…" his accusing finger slowly dropped unsure of himself slouched sighing.

"Scourge…. ?" she sheepishly asked.

"Can I tell you something?" he asked quietly.

"What…. What is it?"

"It's how I became King of Moebius"

She stared him quietly waiting for him to tell her.

"My father…. He was…. an asshole, he never really cared about me. Hell he didn't care about Moebius either, he just partied and did whatever he wanted. He had ditched my mother once I was born and he never raised me, servants raised me in his stead"

"He got rid of your mom?" her tone meaning she wanted to know exactly how he got rid of her.

"I don't know what happened to her…. I don't want to know, all I know is she was gone and the closest thing to a mom I ever had was a servant to took care of me"

The lynx frowned, what a terrible way to grow up.

"Well I tried to hang out with dad when I could. I'd try to ask him if he'd play with me, try to subtly tell him I was going to bed to maybe have him tuck me in…. I was so desperate sometimes I offered to join him when he had to listen to citizens problems, just sit on his lap and listen to how everything worked…. He never let me" Scourge sighed.

He continued "He made a lot of enemies, but I had good security, he was paranoid like that in his later years. But by then…. He was nobody to me, he wasn't my dad, he was an asshole I had to live with. So when I was finally old enough to lead his kingdom…. I found him when he was alone and too drunk to defend himself" his fist clenched tighter than Nicole had ever seen pretty much implying what he did to his dad. But a tear escaped his eye.

"I killed him, then made it look like he died in his sleep and I became the new leader…. But…."

Nicole quietly asked at his stop "Do you regret it?"

He looked down the rage completely gone "I…. I don't know"

"You don't know? If he was so horrible then why regret anything?"

"I don't know… I just… sometimes I feel like I'd be different if I didn't do it" he sighed.

Nicole simply stared at him for a minute and was about to say something when Scourge cut her off "So I'm dangerous, I don't know why you of all people would keep wanting to be around me"

"I already told yo…"

He cut her off again "I know, I still don't know why you follow me around, why you trust me, why you let me carry you into battle. I'm an evil bastard who killed his dad in cold blood, backstabbed many of my 'friends' and left behind the only truly loyal person I ever knew" he panted finding it hard to not yell at her but he also wanted to keep his cool.

"Then look at you…" he paused for a moment actually taking a look at her "You're a good person, I don't know much about you before I pretended to be Sonic but you've always wanted what's best for everyone. You had all the abilities to be a bad person and control that entire city but you didn't. You took verbal abuse and even being kicked out and still sought no revenge. Why follow an asshole like me, why…. WHY!?" his confusion finally making him yell his last word.

She jumped at his sudden volume, but hearing all he said she couldn't help but feel good. He actually knew about her difficulty of living in Mobotropolis, it even sounded like he somewhat admired her self-control. Had the idea of betraying them all and making them pay crossed her mind, yes…. But only for a nanosecond… but for an AI like herself it felt like a long time. To make it worse, it crossed her mind several times, yet she never acted upon it.

"Because I have seen the good in you. You saved me from the invisible robot back in the factory" she smiled.

"It beat the crap out me, I wanted revenge, not to mention you were also my only chance of getting out of that place alive" he huffed looking away to avoid her gaze.

"Then what about when you saved me at Tails' bases" Nicole said, he couldn't possibly deny that one, she'd heard from the others that he went back for her, in fact he was the one who brought up the fact they forgotten about her.

Scourge paused and gulped thinking "I… "

"You are a good person Scourge, I've seen it" she kindly smiled. The lynx left him with those thoughts walking away to give him space and time to think. Despite his yelling she felt she'd made him think.

Elsewhere…

Tails walked with Fiona, the two heading to the old workshop.

"So do we have even a fraction of a plan?" Fiona asked.

Tails sighed "Nope, not even close. All I got going is the task of taking down Metal Sonic. At best I have half a plan to do that. I got the railgun nearly completed, as for how I'm going to hit him…. That's a whole-nother story"

Fiona just sighed "We don't have much left so a distraction is the best I can think of…. Maybe…. Maybe we can get Shadow or Scourge to distract it thn you take a shot?"

Tails could only nod in agreement "It's the best we can do, but if we'd want the distraction to work we'd have to make a lot of trouble, I'd need to be pretty far away so he doesn't see it coming and if he's tipped off at all even a second before I shoot his speed will allow him to escape. If he escapes, we won't get a chance to take him down again"

That was some heavy odds against them, the one advantage they had was they knew of Metal Sonics existence and some of his abilities now. Not to mention they wouldn't be taken off guard like before. Even with that advantage there was a lot fighting against them and the slightest tip off would end it all.

"Well first, we need to finish the thing, maybe then we can get a good idea of what we can do" Fiona suggested.

"You got me there" he nodded "Wanna be my lab assistant again?"

"I got nothing better to do" she shrugged wanting to help him out "But I think you forgot "Pretty assistant"

Tails just rolled his eyes with an amused smile. He had a more flattering word but kept quiet leading her inside the workshop.

"So just how far are you rom finishing?"

"If I don't get disturbed I could get it all finished by the end of the day" Tails explained.

The vixen nodded approaching the work table "So how's it gonna work?" even though most of the science would fly over her head she knew talking about would him and atleast make him smile.

"Well it's gonna work like most railguns, but to keep it compact it will be made of three parts. The middle part will include the trigger, firing mechanism and all that jazz, that part will be my morph gun. That's the hardest part, getting the morph gun to the new configuration" he explained pulling the morph gun from the table. It looked different now, pieces ripped out and other pieces added in different places.

"I can see why that's hard" making it change into it's different forms must be hard enough, adding another that is supposed to attach to two other pieces couldn't be easy "If anyone can do it I know you can" she smiled.

"Thanks" he smiled "The next piece is relatively the easiest" he pulled out a long barrel with a deployable tripod at the end "This barrel will trap the gasses and electricity needed to send out the bullet at the speed needed. The gases are volatile and moving could cause it to explode so this has to be a sniper weapon"

She nodded, meaning if they wanted to shoot Metal sonic he'd need to stay relatively in front of the shooter.

"Lastly is the shoulder mount" he explained. He pulled out what looked like the right shoulder plate and chest plate of his armor, only now it had a backpack looking attachment that sat around the right side of the upper back.

"This part will hold the gas, conduct the electricity and protect my shoulder from the massive kickback.. Without this one shot would dislocate my arm, maybe even tear it right off in one shot. It will deploy up and around my shoulder. A small piston will take in the gasses and when I fire it will push them through the gun connect with the electricity at the barrel and send the bullet out" he hoped the simplified version wouldn't confuse her as he looked up.

"So pretty much this will only work with your armor" she nodded getting it fairly well "I assume you can get a hold of these gases?"

"Yes fortunately I can do that, that's simple" he smiled.

"Great, seems things are going our way, even if it's admittedly small" she smiled back.

"Yup, so how exactly are you gonna assist me?" he smirked, he knew she was here for more than just to help.

"I could give a reason to be motivated" she smirked back.

"And tell me what could motivate me more than saving our world?"

"Hmmm… how about…. Something from me?" she crossed her arms smartly.

"I can only imagine what that might be" he had a few ideas, some innocent, some not so innocent. Although the less innocent ones he couldn't accept anyway, like he said he wanted to build trust with her and those would take a lot more trust.

He was bumped from his thoughts when he noticed Fiona had made her way behind him and said "But for now I'll just offer something like this" her hands became massaging his shoulders.

Tails had to admit her hands were nice to the touch and he let out a sigh.

Fiona just smiled glad he was letting her do that after a few moments he said "Thanks" he looked back and smiled at her "I think I'll work ok after that"

Fiona just nodded and leaned against the workbench as he began work. The quickly found a system where he'd ask for a tool and she'd get it. Once in awhile he'd tease by making up a name and watch as she angrily looked around for the non-existant tool eventually laughing to make her realize what was happening. It was actually kinda fun.

It was actually pretty great, almost no words were actually spoken besides Tails commands for tools, the curses from a tricked fox and laughs.

It seemed after everything that happened, the betrayal, her being with Scourge, his leaving of the team, their not so great reunion , working together again and finally them coming to terms with their feelings it was finally good for them again. They could finally sped time together again and just not talk and feel like they'd had an entire conversation. In a way they were stronger than ever.

Tails finally felt calm and had she even attempted to touch him back when they met he'd have had to control himself from breaking her arm, but now, now he just couldn't even think about that.

"Thanks for the help" Tails suddenly said.

"I'm not done here" Fiona chuckled.

The kitsune shook his head "No I mean…. For finding me, giving me a purpose, coming back into my life and especially for telling me how it all really went down. For…. Keeping me from turning back into that other me when I lost mom again"

He couldn't see because he continued to work and Fiona was to the side, but she was smiling "Your welcome kid"

He turned his head with a smile as well "I'm not a kid anymore"

She just shrugged with a playful smile "Oh ya? Prove it" she dared.

"Well look at me, what do I look like?" he smirked.

She scanned him for a moment before crossing her arms and leaning more on one leg "Well if I had to take my best guess I'd say you look very kissable"

Tails gave her an annoyed stare "Really?"

"Oh I've thought many times about kissing that adorable face of yours" she cooed pinching his cheeks clearly trying to annoy him now, some payback for his fake tool names.

He lightly pushed her off him and crossed his arms looking annoyed again "I'm not adorable either"

"O-k, so what would you describe yourself as?" she challenged with a smirk.

He took a deep breath puffed out his chest "How about, handsome?" sweeping back his hair only to have it go right back its normal look.

It was hard for the female to not laugh at the male. Honestly, it was even more cute to see him do something like that, the only way to make it better was if he had a stool to lift one leg up onto.

"Maybe" she ended up saying with a roll of her eyes. But she had an idea "So how would you describe me?"

He got back to his normal stance began thinking scanning her for a moment before finally giving a smile "Beautiful"

"Aren't you just the sweet talker" she said back approaching him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

"I've always been a good at talking, just needed to work on the sweet part"

She chuckled at this and said "Well such a good learner, I think you deserve a reward"

"I like rewards" he smirked feeling her lean in closer.

About an inch from eachother he could feel her breath but it they both went stiff hearing a knock from outside.

Both remembered their deal, they'd keep things on the down low so broke apart regained their composures. Both took a moment to take a deep breath and Tails went back to the work bench while Fiona went to answer the door.

Seeing who it was she found the dark hedgehog waiting "Oh hey Shad, what's up?"

"Nothing, wanted to speak to Tails"

"Well come on in" she stepped aside and allowed him to walk past and closed the door.

Tails turned "Hey Shadow, what'cha need?"

The hedgehog got right to the point "Well first I wanted to see how the railgun is doing. It was pretty much the one bit of equipment we brought with us besides your car"

"Well it's actually almost done, I can easily make the gas I need to complete the reaction, but besides that it's pretty much all finished. Well besides some small stuff I can get done by the end of the day" he hoped the explanation was enough for Shadow.

"Good, but now we need to think about how to use it?" Shadow thought aloud looking at the three pieces on the workbench.

That…. I'm still trying to figure out" Tails sighed then explained "Metal Sonic will probably be too fast to hit him if he knows it's coming., he'll need to be distracted somehow and relatively still"

The other male nodded in agreement, only Scourge and I can match his speed, so perhaps we're the only ones who can keep him still"

"It's gonna be dangerous…. And…. Chaos forbid he figures out what's going on and puts one of you in front of me. Hopefully not though, I will have to be far away in a sniping position" once again explaining his plan like he had for Fiona.

"You think that's our best shot, you sit far away, me or Scourge take that super powered bastard and hope we can keep him still long enough for you to make one shot that if it misses we may never get a chance like that again?" Shadow asked skeptically.

"You have a better idea, it can somehow nullify Silvers powers, is fast enough to avoid yours unless you get into point blank range, we don't even know if it has some emergency defense if you pull that off. It's immune to small arms fire which is all we have bbesides this gun. Blazes powers won't hurt it, it's metal is probably got a high melting point too. This is the most powerful and unexpected thing we have" Tails summed it all up.

Shadow just sighed, he knew he was right. It was just healthy to have skepticism and an open mind to other ideas, if there were any.

"Alright Tails, we got nothing else left and if we want to make our mark and show Eggman we are not backing down" the hedgehog nodded his head.

"Wait, wait" Fiona cut in "Do we want that attention so recently after he decimated us?"

Tails thought for a moment "I know you have concerns Fi, but if we sit back he only gets stronger, and with nothing else to work with besides this gun we might as well do what we can"

The fox sighed looking a little scared, the attack was still fresh in all their minds. It didn't help that Fiona and Tails had told each other their feelings, she was scared to lose Tails now. She wondered why Tails seemed so confident to move forward, even Shadow showed a little restraint. It worried her that Tails was still carrying some revenge in his heart for the loss of his mom.

"If you feel it's right I'll follow you" she said a little hesitance in her voice. From Shadows eyebrow raising he caught it, but Tails clearly ignored it didn't hear it.

"Great, let everyone else know about the plan. We'll head out tomorrow, we'll have to make some noise to attract Eggmans attention, but we can't do it near Mobotropolis, or he'll search the city" Tails said excitedly getting back to work.

Shadow and Fiona nodded and left to let everyone know. Both knew this was either gonna work, or things would go horribly wrong.

 **Alright so not much happened this chapter, but I guess that ending says the next will get to some action. I hope this chapters characters interactions were ok because I was especially iffy with Scourge and Nicole.**

 **Anyway let me know and sorry about the wait blah blah, explaining explaining whatever. Hope you like tell me what you think and remember…**

 **Live long and prosper**

 **Admiralkirk**


	31. Blown away

**A/N So here comes the fight with Metal Sonic, what surpises will be in store for our heroes. I'm also glad to see no one disliking how I'm making Scourge and Nicole get closer, I was a little worried some people would say "When would that happen!?" and stop reading. I just thought it would be neat to put a bad guy with one of the more innocent characters, atleast that's how I see Nicole. Innocent because she requires a lot of learning and is always trying to do good.**

 **I believe it was Reaver who said he enjoyed the railgun as well. I'm glad my accurate-ness of that is enjoyable. I may have mentioned this before but the railgun is a combination of two ideas. The actual way it works and all that junk comes from the most recent doom(I believe I got the reactions and chemistry down) the part where it's shoulder mounted and in three parts comes from a character named Jhin in league of legends. Basically he uses a small pistol as his normal shots but one ability makes him fire it like a rifle for long range by attaching the barrel to the pistols muzzle. His ultimate ability is when he puts his pistol and long barrel and mount it onto a device hidden under his cloak on his shoulder and it becomes a sniper mass driver(I think that's what it is, I need to look at stuff again but that's the basic idea)**

 **Anyway thanks for the support like always and on with the show!**

Morning came and everyone got ready for the extraordinary task of taking down Metal Sonic. Tails was confident in his new weapon and his armor now had the new attachment behind his right shoulder ready to fold out and attack to his morph gun. The long barrel was attached snuggly to his hip and upper leg, it was meant to expand and get longer when deployed so it wasn't scraping against the floor and deterring his movement.

Everyone else was suited up and ready to go. Fiona had the EMP grenades she'd had on her during the attack and her pistols. Shadow like always had his belt with his hidden pain pills, taking one when nobody was looking, and another knowing this was gonna be one hell of a fight.

Silver had finished up his healing during the night, luckily. Sadly they knew his effectiveness would be lower than normal since he would be unable to actually grab Metal Sonic, that was why Tails planned to find somewhere with tons of rocks or debris of some kind to use as weapons.

Blaze was calm and secretly hoped that her fire powers wouldn't backfire or fail somehow today.

Like always Nicoles PDA was attached to Scourges belt and his double barrel shotgun on his waist, although it would more than likely be useless he wanted it incase they fought something else besides Metal Sonic. Nicole intently watched everything Scourge did incase he messed up and even loaded his shotgun for him. He gave a very subtle nod in thanks, but he had a hard time looking at her after what she said yesterday. That somewhat worried Nicole, it felt like he might be trying to avoid her now.

They were preparing to head out when Fiona took Tails to the side. Her face was full of concern and fear.

"Listen, remember what ever happens we play this safe, no risks unless we have to. Don't let anything make you make a bad mistake" she hoped her subtle hint was enough to make him control himself incase he was still harboring anger for his bases destruction and his mothers death.

He just warmly smiled cupping her cheek with a single hand to ease her mind "Don't worry Fi, we've been through worse"

She grabbed the hand on her face and held it gently "That doesn't mean we should test fate, just be safe ok?"

"I will, as long as you promise me the same thing" the kitsune asked.

"You know I'm always careful" she chuckled, hiding her fright "I wouldn't be here today if I wasn't"

"Then we'll be fine" Tails encouraged getting back to the team.

The conversation didn't ease Fionas worries, this Metal Sonic was like nothing they'd ever seen before, sure the old ones had always been strong and damn smart but none had shields, bullet proof armor, psychic countermeasures, heat resistances and any other crap it may have inside it. Chaos forbids if it had a chaos emerald in it, or a self destruct.

Tails re-explained the plan one last time to the team but Scourge expectedly said "We know the plan, let's get this over with"

His comment wasn't taken badly, pretty much everyone else felt the same way about this, the sooner Metal Sonic was destroyed the better.

And with that they were off. Nicole had been analyzing the patrols of the eggbots and it allowed them to get out of the city unseen.

The next job was to find a reasonable battlefield that would give them some kind of advantage, most importantly allow Silver to be more useful, and have a good sight of the land so Tails could make a shot.

Tails thought back to where he and Fiona had fought the Metal Nack, it had rolling hills to offer cover and a place to dive into if their opponent tried to dive down and scoop them up, and also a lot of rocks which they'd used to make their escape and call for help.

It sounded like a good place to go so the team made their way to that location. Just like the two foxes remembered, this would be a pretty decent place to set their trap. Plenty of cover, and a lot of sightlines for Tails to set up from, the exact reason why Robo Nack had set up their in the first place.

"Ok, I'll find a location to hide at, I'll give you my position then I'm pretty much gonna go quiet" Since any transmission they made to him could possibly be intercepted by Metal Sonic or simply heard by them talking to him during the fight it would give away their intentions. That added some extra risk, if Tails needed them to move he'd have no way of telling them, hopefully knowing his position would help that a bit.

They all nodded and waited as Tails looked around his helmet calculating the best possible position to stay at. Without any surprise the best spot had been exactly where Robo Nack had been before.

He ran over there and looked out at the view he had, the ground was a few meters higher then the area in front of it so he had some height if they could get Metal to stand still on the ground. He took a deep breath and took his morph gun and changed it to the new configuration. He was happy to see it was able to do it, no problems with that.

He unhooked the barrel and attached it to the muzzle of his morph gun locking it in. It instantly shot out becoming longer two extensions running parallel to one another small coils running along the inside but not touching.

He tapped a button on his gauntlet and the piece on his back expanded wrapping over his shoulder creating a shoulder rest that would keep the gun from dislocating his arm. It extended a small but powerful battery and a tank of the gases needed to create the reaction to needed for the powerful blast.

He entered a crouch one foot directly under him and his other leg pointed straight out and finally the shoulder plate extended to arms back to keep the weapon from knocking him on his ass after shooting.

Attaching the first to parts to the shoulder piece the barrel crackled to life blue electricity pulsing along the extensions ready to accelerate any metal that passed through and two leg flipped out from the barrel to help keep his aim stable since it was such a large weapon.

Now fully deployed he got comfortable and went invisible and made the last transmission he'd make during this mission "Alright, now start getting some attention and get back here, hopefully we'll eventually get Metal to show up and we can get this done. I'm goig radio silent now, good luck"

With that he might as well not exist until Metal Sonic appeared, unfortunately they had to fight without him.

Scourge and Shadow ran off in different directions to find some patrols and attract their attention while Silver, Blaze and Fiona got into cover in a ditch.

Blaze took the moment to ask Silver "You feeling alright, you aren't sore?"

"I'm fine Blaze, thanks"

"I'm just worried, we can't afford to make a mistake, don't try to hide any pain or discomfort" the cat said sternly, she mostly believed him but she'd seen how much he wanted to be useful even when hurt badly, or show he didn't need someone to watch him and take care of him.

"I'm telling the truth Blaze, I'm completely up to speed, we're all at the best we can be" the young hedgehog smiled.

Fiona had to sit their and listen to them worry about eachother, she'd call it sickening but now she knew how they felt. She was worried about Tails, hell she was worried about everything, but mostly Tails. It felt selfish, but in all honesty he was also the biggest asset they had. Sure Shadow had raw strength, Nicole was the best hacker they had and she, herself, was the most acrobatic of the team. But Without Tails inventions, plans and leadership they'd crumble.

She was just scared of losing this fight, losing her friends, and most importantly losing Tails. So much was at stake and her mind was on the idea of Tails dying. She felt so selfish for that. It only made it worse that she couldn't talk to him like Silver and Blaze could. She felt very alone in that ditch despite having two people next to her.

"Don't worry, I'll be watching your back Blaze" Silver attempted to calm the cat.

Since Fiona hated hearing them comfort one another and her be alone she decided to make them shut up while also getting some much needed teasing in "Uhhh, Silver, I'm pretty sure your watching some a little lower then the back"

"What!? Heh, no that's not at all what I meant" he stuttered trying to explain to the cat that the foxes statement wasn't true…. Well on the battlefield it wasn't.

"Calm yourself Silver, she is teasing you" she said calmly, though a small blush was clearly on her cheeks.

"Uhhh…. Thanks" the male said nervously glad Blaze didn't tke it seriously not noticing the blush in his panic.

Fiona rolled her eyes, it didn't work they were still comforting eachother.

Half an hour later and they herd some gunfire in the distance and another few minutes later Shadow had arrived with eggbots on his tail. He'd easily kept himself unharmed with his speed but kept the distance short enough to encourage them to keep chasing him.

Seeing that Fiona went on the radio and called back Scourge who was back in a few seconds hiding in the hole with the trio.

Nicole materialized next to the green hedgehog and tapped his shoulder knowing this would be the last time she'd be able to say this before the fighting started.

"Ya, what?" he turned his head to face her catching her eyes with his own.

"Good luck" was all she could say as a stray shot flew by.

Scourge just nodded and said quickly "And you be careful got it?"

She nodded and dissipated away since her holo form gave off a very slight glow that might give away their position.

The eggbot patrol made its way to the area in which the fight would begin and Shadow ran past his friends. The patrol neared them and in a second Silver popped out from cover and using his powers crushed all the bots together. He left enough time for the bots to see him and most likely show the footage to Eggman and show that they were all alive and wanting a fight.

"Alright now I guess we wait" Fiona sighed getting highly impatient.

Everyone waited for the actual fight to begin. Silver volunteered to be the look out so Shadow could rest for a moment.

Nicole reappeared next to Scourge and looked to him "I hope this all goes well" she assumed he felt the same way.

"As long as Metal Sonic shows up and pipsqueak can make the shot, we'll be fine" he said checking on his shotgun and make sure it wouldn't jam in the fight.

She found a bit of confidence in his confidence and smiled. She felt like saying something else but she was a little anxious. This was gonna be very dangerous and things could bad in a split second. She was worried for everyone, and herself. What if she got taken away and forced to help Eggman again, she'd sooner delete her entire self before allowing that to happen again.

"You ok?" Scourge asked quietly noticing her nervous fiddling.

"I'm…. just worried that something bad could happen, what if someone gets hurt or killed? What if they take me away and you're too occupied or hurt to stop them" thinking of him hurt scared her more.

Scourge could see she was on the verge of a computer anxiety attack and in a split second of not thinking he put a hand to her shoulder "They aren't gonna get ya alright?" he felt like those weren't the exact words he wanted to say but he had safely on his belt so they'd definitely have to go through him to take her.

She nodded slightly calming down then looked at him again "And I will be watching your back"

He nodded went back to cleaning his gun.

About fifteen minutes passed by before they heard something approaching, sounded like jets. They were expecting it to be Metal but after a few seconds they spotted what was making the noise and it was another giant transport. Since Metal showed up after the last transport attacked them, this could be a sign he was not far away.

"Alright, same as before, we fight and force Metal to come" Shadow explained.

They all nodded, this time they were ready for the attack unlike last time and had a much easier environment to work with, so the lack of Tails would be somewhat compensated.

Fiona took a deep breath and said "Alright everyone let's do this, show that fat bastard that we are not intimidated by his army"

They all got ready and as the dropship stopped a little bit away as they all jumped out of the small ditch and began the fight. The doors to the ship opened and like before Eggbots spilled out dropping to the ground and blasting out puffs of dust.

Weapons powered up and the eggbots began their attempts to kill the team.

The friends all spread out and began fighting.

Shadow sped off and bounced off eggbots easily keeping a chain of bounces.

Scourge also ran around the battlefield bouncing off bots as well but would occasionally stop to beat an eggbot down and stay relatively in one place to make the robots turn and focus him. He's easily escape with his speed but it was his way or taking attention off the others. One time almost taking too long to get moving again.

Nicole was spotting for after that letting him know then he had to move, but his slow reaction timing was worrying her.

Fiona made sure to work like a support in the fight, always watching out for anyone in trouble and either take a shot and finish off the offending robot or take it's attention somehow. She had to conserve her ammo since she was carrying every last bit of her supplies left from the attack.

Blaze used her fire powers to decimate anything in her way, but the massive use of her powers caused her powers to fail once in awhile. Luckily Silver, like he promised, watched her back and protected her whenever her powers stopped working either shield her or destroying anything that tried to hurt her in those short moments where she stopped.

She looked frustrated by the continual failure of her powers, she didn't like to talk about it but she always had a feeling that if he couldn't master her powers why would she have the responsibility of protecting the Sol emeralds. All her worries finally came to fruition when she had been captured and lost the emeralds to Eggman, her ultimate failure that had cost millions of lives. Even if she died she'd do everything to get them back and make the man who had destroyed her life.

In no time flat the team finished off all the robots inside the large dropship and Shadow said "Silver, hold that thing in place"

Silver smirked as his hands began to glow and hold the aircraft in place.

Shadow pulled out his chaos emerald and drew power from the gem powering up a chaos spear. He threw the large spear through the ship cutting it in half with the massive bolt.

Silver lowered his hands ending the psychic connection and the ship fell to the ground kicking up a large amount of ash and dust.

Silver chuckled and said "Guess that ship dropped"

Everyone groaned at the terrible pun, Shadow going so far to smack the back of his students head "Don't ever do that again"

Silver just groaned rubbing his head a little.

"Ok so why'd we do that?" Fiona asked gesturing to the destroyed aircraft.

"Because now he knows we have the chaos emerald right here, he'll send his best for us, meaning Metal Sonic" Shadow explained.

They all knew that meant shit was about to hit the fan. Now was the time to take a few breathes, rest and clear their heads.

Blaze hated the idea that she needed someone to help her especially in a fight but she oddly was ok with Silver doing just that "Thanks for watching my back" Blaze nodded with an appreciative smile.

"I told you I'd be watching out for you. We make a good team" he smiled.

"Well, like I said I appreciate your help. I just wish I had control of my powers like you" she sighed "I've spent years trying to perfect my fire powers but I always fail at some point" she sighed.

Silver frowned, it must have been hard to never be able to perfection. He wouldn't know, as long as he could remember his powers came to him like breathing. He always felt a little guilty about that, he hadn't earned his powers, or learned how to use them. He had simply mastered his control over it on nearly his first try. Sure he learned how to control the intensity and strength of his actions, and Shadow had made him practice more often to work on endurance, but he'd never had any real problem with his powers.

An idea came to mind though "If I may, your powers are fire. Fire can be unpredictable"

Blaze looked up at him having looked down at the ground "Yes I know, but… a fire can be controlled with enough work"

"Yes that is correct I suppose" she was right, maybe they were both partially right, he didn't want to go any further and imply she could never fully control it so stayed quiet.

"Either way, your welcome. I wouldn't want you hurt"Silver said nervously.

Blaze just smiled and replied "Yes, I'd much rather see you un-hurt as well"

The two awkwardly stared at one another for a moment until Fiona cut in and said "Jeez anymore awkward staring we might think you two are in love"

Both cat and hedgehog blushed madly and quickly looked away saying nothing for or against her statement. A little bit aways Shadow was chuckling at the scene knowing eventually he'd have to intervene somehow and force something t happen. Obviously not right now of course.

Scourge quietly watched everything but eventually turned away avoiding the sight and emotions it brought.

He must have forgotten that Nicole was on his belt as she materialized next to him waiting a moment before speaking unsure why he was so distant.

"Scourge?"

"What?' he asked not sounding annoyed, but sounding more like he'd rather not talk to anyone.

"May I ask you something?" she said her voice squeaking a little.

"I can't really get away from you so sure" he shrugged with a small sigh.

"What were you doing earlier, you were purposely being slow and almost got a shot a few times" she was worried something was distracting him.

"I was trying to take agro for everyone else, duh" he answer short and slightly rude.

"Yes I know but why wait so long before moving, you have their attention, why wait until the last second?" she'd been on his belt long enough to know his reaction time was sharp. He kinda needed to be when going the speed of sound. But as a computer she could sense the very small milliseconds of difference in his reactions.

Sadly for her he didn't answer staring off at the horizon with a blank stare.

"Scourge please don't ignore me" it didn't sound like a request but a plea, like it hurt her when he refused to speak with her.

"I can do what I want, I am expendable after all" he had no sign of sadness saying that.

"What!? No you aren't expendable, everyone trusts you to carry me, including me" she didn't want to sound narcissistic but she was one of the most powerful tools in their arsenal, before and after Tails' base exploded.

"So what, if I die Shadow will just zoom by and pick you up, we all know why I'm here. Because I have nowhere else to go, everyone wants me dead, my own home wants me dead" he growled. His past deeds had finally caught up to him all at once and he was now and exile from his own universe and now he was stuck in a universe that knew who he was, all the bad things he's done hate him too.

"You aren't going to die!" Nicole said rather desperately clutching his arm with both hands.

"And what make you so sure, look at who I'm with, people who I've hurt somehow in the past and want to hurt me back" he clearly didn't understand that the team had gotten past the things he's done. They'd gotten past it enough to work with him. But at the end of the day that wasn't the real problem Scourge was having and he knew it.

"You're a liar, there is something else wrong" Nicole suddenly said getting aggressive, she'd been so nice to him and all he could do was push her away, not talk to her. She felt incredibly hurt that she had placed so much trust in him yet he returned none to her or anyone else, if what he was saying was true of course.

"Get off me!" he growled back ripping his hand from hers "I'm a horrible person, why can't you accept that!?"

"Because people change, and I have seen you be selfless, for me" she said angrily.

"So what? I was protecting you because we needed you to survive!"

"Then why'd you go back for me during the attack? You could have left with the others safely, or even just ran away from all of this but you didn't, tell me why right now!" she demanded.

"What do you want me to say? Do you want me to say that I'm a good guy? That I'm like Sonic more than I like to admit. That maybe I don't deserve to die after everything I've done?"

"What?" Nicole's rage completely left her hearing the second part "No, that's not what I wanted-" sudden jets in the air ended their conversation prematurely.

Scourges attention also went to the sky hearing the noise along with the others who had amazingly not heard their argument, too into their own teasing of Silver and Blaze to notice.

"Sounds familiar" Shadow growled knowing who it was.

"Get ready" Fiona yelled to the group just as she spotted a fast moving object on the horizon.

They had all of about one second to prepare before Metal Sonic flew in and quickly attack them. Heading straight for the one holding the emerald, Shadow.

The dark hedgehog side stepped watching Metal scream by and quickly turn. While doing so Silver lifted some rocks and forced them in his way. The metal sonic simply flew straight through them without a care and the broken chunks broke apart flying at dangerous speeds towards the group.

Everyone ducked in cover giving Metal time to attack Shadow. Like a rocket he tried to ram Shadow who once again side stepped but Metal turned on a dime fist connecting with Shadows head.

Shadow grunted from the hit but recovered quickly empowering his fist with chaos and sending it at the robot. It dodged his attack punched him in the gut then lunged for the chaos emerald.

Shadow just barely kept it out of his reach while trying to catch his breath. Using chaos energy again he made a small pulse wave pushing Metal away just before it could get a grip on the gem.

By now everyone else recovered from the barrage of rocks and Scourge ran in entering the fray. He tackled the recovering robot and the two tumbled a few feet.

Scourge managed to end up on top and prepared to send a barrage of punches but Metal fired its jet booster while grabbing the hedgehog's jacket pulling him with it.

"Let go of me you piece of scrap!" Scourge growled trying to pull pull himself away.

It must have had a sense of humor because it did and continued to fly away as Scourge slid through the dirt being left behind.

He slid to a stop and groaned a little. He wiped away dirt from his jacket and shook his head getting dust from his fur. He looked up and saw Metal coming straight at him and had no time to get out of the way. Raising his hands he felt Metals head crash into him and forced him to start sliding backwards from all the speed he'd generated.

The green hedgehog just barely kept himself standing from the force and grit his teeth as he slid backwards holding onto Metal's head. The Robot didn't seem to care still barreling forward. It eventually tired of this and flipped around too quick for Scourge to react and kicked him in the chest knocking him to the ground.

In a way Scourge hoped Metal would take the opportunity to beat the crap out of him so Tails could take the shot, unfortunately Metal was single mindedly after Shadow and that chaos emerald. For now Scourge had to take a breather the kick knocking all the air from his lungs.

Metal rocked forward back to the group clearly wanting to get Shadow. Blaze jumped in the way and spewed a torrent of fire at the approaching robot, it'd either have to move out of the way or take the fire…. Wait his armor was fire proof.

Blaze gasped realizing this too late as Metal burst through the flames unfazed by the attack clawed hand outstretched to tear her to pieces.

What happened next was almost too fast for Blaze to register, inches from her face the clawed hand approached her until a green barrier got in between the two. The barrier for the shortest moment stopped the robot giving her just enough time to dive out of the way but an ear piercing scream echoed out as Metal sailed by now about to collide with Shadow.

It took half a second longer for Blaze to realize what happened, Silver must have made a barrier in a desperate bid to stop Metal, it worked very slightly slowing him enough to save the cat but it obviously hurt him a lot. Her head snapped to Silver who was on his knees cringing in pain knocking him out of the fight for a moment.

She wanted to help him but knew they had more important thing to do and looked to the direction Metal had flown off to. He was now currently brawling with Shadow clawing at air while Shadow tried to avoid the attacks.

Getting up she noticed Shadow was constantly on the defensive, avoiding all the strikes and barely ever returning his own. It occurred to her that perhaps his leg was effecting him more than he was letting on, damn it, too proud to admit he had a problem. Either way Blaze ran to the brawlers and to batch metal off guard. She jumped up and kicked straight into the back of Metals neck.

With the opportunity open Shadow infused with fist with chaos and uppercutted the robot while it's head down and sent it into the air. Unsurprisingly it quickly recovered using it's jet to remain in the air.

All while the small brawl was taking place Fiona had ran to Scourge to see if he was ok, Nicole easily beat her to it.

"He's fine" the lynx said looking to the action hearing Silver scream in pain.

Scourge and Fiona herd as well gaining new found fervor, the green hedgehog rising to his feet.

"Come on" Fiona commended running back towards the action.

They both saw Metal get launched into the air from Shadows punch and Scourge got an idea. Thinking back to when they broke out Nicole and Blaze he remembered how Tails vaulted him up to damage the robot, made of nanites, to topple it over.

"Hey, get me up there" Scourge said.

Fiona didn't argue and nodded crouching down and cupping her hands ready to throw him up.

Scourge stepped back and bit and ran forward, nearing Fiona he planted his foot in her hands and jumped with her lift soaring into the air.

Now above Metal and close enough he curled up and spin dashed straight into the robots back.

He could feel Metal's skin dent inwards from the attack and pushed him back down to earth. It crashed into the dirt with a loud thud. Once again quick to recover it used the dust as cover waiting to strike.

By now Silver had recovered and wasn't having any of Metals hiding act and using his powers made another barrier and pushed it at the dust cloud. He stopped right as the barrier was about to reach the dust cloud, the resulting gust of air he made clearing the area.

With nowhere to hide Metal burst forward only to face a chaos spear heading straight at it. Like Tails had predicted all along its quick reflexes allowed it to dodge the bolt head butting straight into Shadow.

The chaos emerald left his grasp twirling into the air, metal quickly noticed leaving Shadow tumbling through the dirt and flew straight for the emerald.

It seemed he had gained what he wanted, but right as he was about to reach it the emerald dropped down quite suddenly. Metal dove down to reach it but it flew left making it almost slam into the dirt.

The robot tried to catch it several times before realizing what was happening and looked to Silver, his hand extended and glowing a large smirk on his face.

Metal made something like a growling sound and flew straight at the hedgehog refusing to made a fool off.

The white hedgehog gasped already imagining the pain he'd be in for.

Had it not been for the timely intervention of two fast an angry hedgehogs Silver might be dead.

Scourge and Shadow intercepted the robot midair tackling it to the ground, their combined strength and wait forcing it down.

The trio tumbled along the ground as they landed. Shadow lost his grip of the machine and separated from the ball. Scourge held on tight though and the duo ended up rolling into a rock. Metals back against the stone while Scourge had the advantage.

In no time Scourge took out some anger on the robots face not caring that his fists might get broken from hitting metal so hard.

It looked like Scourge had the upper hand until Metal finally was able to recover and block ta punch. Being stopped threw Scourge off enough for Metal to then slam both palms into the green hedgehogs temples and kicking Scourge away with a strong kick.

Scourge groaned in pain gripping his head as the world looked fuzzy and his brain felt scattered. He swore he'd destroy that thing.

Despite the pain, dizziness and blurred eyes he got up and faced Metal again expecting Shadow to have taken his place but his ears heard no fighting anymore.

He was seriously confused and shook his head to clear his eyes. Everything began to clear and he went wide eyed at what he saw.

Everyone stopped fighting for one key reason. Something that even scared Scourge.

In Metals hand was Nicoles PDA. Scourge placed hand on his belt hoping his eyes were lying but felt not device like before, so he looked down and found it wasn't there anywhere on his belt. Metal must have grabbed it as he kicked him away.

His eyes went back to Metal who looked confident from his stance.

"Let her go!" Scourge yelled.

It simply shook its head then pointed at the chaos emerald now in Fionas possession, she'd picked it up after Scourge and Shadow tackled Metal.

Everyone knew what it wanted but they all knew they'd won. It was still only had wait…..why wasn't Tails shooting?

With Tails…

Tails watched the whole battle from his sniping spot, on several occasions he wanted to shoot, especially after Shadow knocked Metal into that air but Scourged pounced it before he could take the shot. He'd seen it all and had been scared someone would get killed , he was almost forced to try and make an interception shot to save Silver if it hadn't been for Scourge and Shadow.

But no he finally had it, Metal thought he had the upper hand, holding Nicole so confidently, like he was in control. The PDA was at its side so he'd just aim for the head.

He smirked about to squeeze the trigger until…

"I wouldn't do that if I were you"

In an instant Tails hit a button on the railgun which disconnected the barrel and shoulder from the morph gun, it quickly changed to the rifle form. He rolled away from the voice then turned to face it. He knew who it was; he'd never forget Eggmans voice.

He almost opened fire but noticed the voice he'd heard had not come from Eggman physically behind him. Instead a floating screen of him greeted his presence.

"Too much of a coward to come out here for real?" Tails taunted gun still ready to destroy the device.

"No, I just have more important things to do than play with you rodents" he smirked, it was almost enough to make Tails shoot.

The fox knew something was up, how'd Eggman know he was here, and why send this TV alongside Metal.

"How'd you know I was here?"

Eggman simply laughed "Oh you poor dumb fox, you fought Nack here, correct? This is the exact place he was, and when my footage showed you weren't in sight I made an educated guess"

"Congrats" Tails replied sarcastically, he guessed the other part was some kind of sensor, most likely an infer-red sensor to see exactly where he was. "What makes you think I didn't die in the attack?"

"Had some of my robots recycle anything they could from it, no bodies were found. That was an impressive explosion by the way" he chuckled mockingly.

"So why are you here?" Tails asked getting to the point.

"Oh yes, I do apologize" clearly sarcastic "I just wanted to see what trap you had for myself, quite clever by the way. Is that a railgun, I'm surprised you were able to make that with so little resources" he actually sounded impressed.

"Sorry I'm not accepting any jobs right now if that's what you're implying" the fox growled.

"Oh I'm so glad you brought that up" he cheered.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Tails said annoyed, briefly looking back to everyone still in a stalemate with metal.

"Oh well let me ask you something. Did you notice the new design of Metal Sonic. He's finally up to date with what Sonic actuallys like and not like what he looked like when he was younger. Longer quills, longer legs and just older in general" he made an evil smirk.

"Ya, so you upgraded finally, nice might I add. How'd you get him to resist telekinesis?"

"Sorry that's for me to know you to never know, back to my inquiry though. You have to admit he resembles Sonic quite well right?"

Tails growled annoyed by his insistence of talking about that "Ya, I guess so" he rolled his eyes.

Well let me tell you a story, I'm sure you know most of it by now from Shadow. The day the Freedom fighters fell" he chuckled darkly.

What the hell was he talking about? Tails was confused what else could he possibly be talking about.

"I'm sure Shadow has told you that he abandoned Sonic so he could save his last two doomed friends?" the fat man continued to smirk.

Tails almost said he knew Sonic had survived but that would imply he saw the video logs, which meant he'd been to Freedom HQ so kept quiet about that "Ya he told me"

"It might surprise you to know that Sonic escaped as well. I monitored him, watched him. Laughed as he slowly fell apart, all alone with nothing but his regrets as company"

Tails almost growled again, he'd been watching Sonic the entire time and watched him suffer, if he ever got his hands on him he'd make him suffer far worse.

Eggman took his silence as reason to continue "Well anyway, I let him live for a few months, but eventually I tired of watching and decided to involve myself. I broke into what was left of Freedom HQ and took him back to my base, he was so weak, he couldn't resist at all.

What? Sonic hadn't died there? Tails was now listening to every word, maybe he was still alive!

"Oh I had fun torturing him, breaking him, making him remember all the mistakes he'd made in the past." Eggman laughed maniacally, Tails could barely hold back his fury, and his tears.

"You bastard!" Tails finally yelled.

"Oh I'm not done yet, this is the best part. I realized something. Why waste such a great fighter, and pass up the beautiful irony if making my greatest foe mine" he continued to laugh.

Tails suddenly realized what he was going on about "No…. you didn't"

"Oh no not exactly. No, I broke his mind first, made him realize all his mistakes and see that light. He realized the error of his mistakes and swore loyalty to me and volunteered to be what he is now. Oh and don't try to appeal to his old self, like all Sonics since that Shard you will never be able to change him back"

Tears now filled up Tails' eyes, he couldn't believe it. He had broken him, he'd made Sonic turn against everything he stood for, he brainwashed him and there wasn't a way to turn him back.

"I'm going to fucking kill you!" Tails screamed "I WILL DESTROY EVERYTHING YOU HAVE EVER WORKED FOR!"

Eggman was unfazed by his threat, basking his misery the fox was feeling "Oh just try, you will fail"

Before his laugh could start up again Tails broke stealth unloading every round he could into the TV.

After unloading his entire clip into the floating screen he saw it fall to the ground. He proceeded to stomp it into small pieces with his boots letting off all his rage. Tears streamed down his eyes unable to handle the idea that his best friend, hero, and brother had turned to Eggmans side. It wasn't even against his will, his mind changed on it's own and now couldn't be changed.

He collapsed to his knees totally drained of all energy. What was happening to his friends right now he couldn't do anything.

He knew why Eggman revealed this information, it wasn't to hurt him, or two watch him get angry, not. He knew just how much Tails cared about Sonic, despite having left him for years he still loved Sonic. His leaving was a mistake and any ill will that he thought Sonic had towards him was all in his head. He knew that now.

So now he couldn't do anything…. He couldn't hurt Sonic.

 **HAHAHAHAHA, I've been waiting for 31 chapters to FINALLY reveal this. To finally get to this and it was SATIFYING AS HELL hahahahaha.**

 **Deep breathe** *** sorry….. just really excited. I'm sorry the railgun wasn't implemented but perhaps it will in the future(I know the answer but you'll have to wait, suckers)**

 **God that was satisfying, I hope you were all blown away by it, if not then there's still more to come, but further ahead you can calm down for now.I hope the fight was cool, hell I hope it was all good and I hope you liked it. Let me know what you think and remember…**

 **Live long and prosper**

 **Admiralkirk**


	32. Fear

**A/N Hey glad to see my twist last chapter was cool. I super wanted to get that secret out and completely destroy Tails…..again. To anyone who has fears he'll go all anger issues again just read ahead and you'll get your answer, because I know someone mentioned that they weren't totally into the darker Tails. Not that I have a problem with that, there is a reason I made him turn back, I find it fun writing an angry Tails but I know that's not who he truly is and writing the normal Tails is far better to me. But still wait and see what's gonna happen to his mental state.**

 **Besides that thanks for all the support but I seriously should get working on this because next month I'll probably disappear for awhile. When the end of September roles around I'll be probably playing xcom 2 with all my free time since it's FINALLY coming to consoles. So if anyone reading doesn't know that's happening and likes the xcom series go get it because you won't be disappointed from what I can tell…. Except maybe the fact the game MAY not feature mod support meaning no long war mod.**

 **Some of this chapter was written while on the road, my family decided to go for a road trip and thought I could spend some time on these long car rides to get some writing done. So in stark contrast to my dark desolate and burned world of Mobius I was able to see amazing landscapes of Pennsylvania , DC, Virginia and Tennessee. My family wanted to go to Washington DC and we also decided to travel down to my great aunt and uncle. It is very different and beautiful country than up in Canada, Ontario. Ontario is far more rocky and has either sudden drops in that land like escarpments, like where I live essentially cutting my city in half or has flat/rolling hills. So it was nice. So for my entire travel I went through New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, DC, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan in that order.**

 **So to accompany my (mostly) relaxing drive you might just get some feels and emotions this chapter, hope ya enjoy.**

Tails stared at the wreck of metal in front of him and the man who had told him one of the most disturbing things he'd ever heard in his life. He didn't even register the tears escaping his eyes, there was only disbelief, rage and sick feeling in his stomach.

Years of seeing what Eggman would do to take control of Mobius and all the experiments he performed. They were in-human, immoral and dangerous. Sonic had seen it all and to hear that his mind broke and he volunteered to become one of the doctors most powerful weapons. All the guilt and pain and torture must have been so powerful. Tails couldn't even comprehend what his friend had to go through to make him fall so far.

Sadly he knew that people who have been broken or have gone insane rarely make sense to the sane. All he knew was all the stress of not only losing all his friends, but also essentially killing them, the isolation and finally the torture had brought to the darkest of places. And there was nothing Tails could do, nothing he could say to change his mind back thanks to that chip Eggman mentioned.

The thought of it nearly made him throw up, his friend had been there for all his life and saved him so many times, on a personal level and by saving the world. Then he left like the stupid kid he was wasn't there when he needed him, now he wasn't Sonic anymore…. He was just an attack dog.

"Wait!? Attack!"

Tails got to his feet and ran back see how everyone was doing.

Looking out over his vantage point he wiped away his tears and saw that everyone had been either knocked out or temporarily taken out of the fight besides Shadow and Scourge, but it looked like Shadow was close to losing as well. Sonic focused on him the most since he had the chaos emerald back in his possession.

On the other hand any time Scourge was forced back or hit he only came back with more ferocity. The fox couldn't tell why, he was so far away so using his helmet zoomed in for a better look.

To his horror Nicole was still in Sonics possession, even during the fighting he was still holding onto the PDA and was using her as a survival tool. Scourge would attack and be forced to hold himself back when Sonic put the PDA in the way or threaten to crush it. He could see the rage and frustration in his eyes everytime he was stopped by the low tactic.

Whenever Scourge was forced to back off or ease up Sonic would put the pressure onto Shadow, and was slowly witling him down.

Knowing he had very little to help them he turned to the railgun parts and quickly put it back together getting back into the squat he had before.

He aimed and focused but the trio was moving far to fast for him to make shot so broke radio silence "Hold him in place!"

With desperate fervor the two hedgehog lunged at the robot and grabbed at Sonics arms and forcefully sprawled him out facing Tails direction.

Looking into those digital eyes felt so much different now, but…. No it's not Sonic anymore.

His finger hesitated for not even half a second before finally firing. The electrical charge and gases finally meeting as a single slug was pushed into the barrel and was propelled forward with amazing force and speed. The kickback nearly causing him to fall backwards if not for the stands on his back. His shoulder felt numb for half a second and the force of the blast caused all the ash around him to poof into the around him.

Almost in slow motion he watched as Sonic struggled. The weakened hedgehogs couldn't completely hold it still so it leaned enough to the side that the massive bolt missed it's chest and connected with the shoulder causing the arm holding Nicoles PDA to fall to the ground. His hesitation gave Sonic just barely enough time to fight back and save itself.

The force of the shot still sent all three hedgehogs falling backwards. Scourge and Shadow fell flat on their back totally exhausted but Sonic rolled out of his fall and without hesitation flew away before Tails could charge another shot.

With that their chance was gone… a chance to remove a powerful enemy and end a friends suffering. He failed, he failed everyone.

Tails dropped the gun and cursed to himself, he was gonna have a lot to answer for…. Should he even tell the others that he was really the real Sonic? Could he hide that if he chose to? Not they needed to know.

The fox sadly packed up all the parts and jogged his way back to the group, how was he going to tell them the truth. Maybe he could hide it for a bit until they asked what happened to him.

As he approached Nicole materialized and looked around and she grew a shocked face seeing everyone knocked out or recovering. But she went to Scourge, who was close enough to her PDA to reach.

"Scourge are you alright?" the lynx asked worried he'd been badly hurt somehow.

The green hedgehog groaned in response but nodded his head weakly making the lynx smile and sigh in relief.

Tails jogged over to Fiona who was nursing a lump on her head she had received from earlier in the fight. After Tails failed to fire the group knew they had to save Nicole and knew that Sonic wanted the emerald, which had been in Fiona's possession at the time.

Sonic had attacked her first nearly knocking her unconscious but like before Silver used his powers to annoy Sonic. He wasn't gonna be fooled again so rammed Silver with his hard head knocking the wind from him.

Blaze of course went right into action defending the white hedgehog and harassed Metal for a short time even scoring a scratch on the side of the head, it did pretty much nothing but Sonic made her pay for it. She was currently trying to stand after the beating she received.

"Fi, you ok?" Tails asked kneeling down to her.

"Ya…. Just minor brain trauma right?" she joked for a moment rubbing her head "What happened to you though?"

He looked away and frowned "I…. Eggman knew exactly what e were doing?"

"What!? He had an ambush for you, what happened, are you alright?" all of a sudden she was more worried for him since he'd been alone.

"No… it was ust a floating screen with Eggman talking to me…. He explained that…. That.."

What the hell Tails! What the hell happened to the plan!?" An angry voice asked.

Approaching them was limping Shadow clearly very pissed off. His bad leg was the one he was limping on showing how bad it actually was to everyone, but he was too angry to care.

"We could have died, what happened!?" Shadow asked again.

"I… I was…" Tails stuttered all the information he'd digested in a short time was making him timid and scared.

"Spit it out, I'd love to know why Nicole's life was risked for so long without one shot coming from you. What could have possibly distracted you so much you forgot we were fighting a super powered Metal Sonic.

"No… listen I"

Shadow bared down on the kneeling fox and bore his fangs at the younger Mobian.

"Hey back off Shadow!" Fiona coming in between them trying to push Shadow back.

"No! We had a plan, we had him exactly where we wanted him and Tails wasn't there. WHY!?" Shadow yelled, the stress pain and realization that it was all for nothing put him over the edge.

"Eggman snuck on me with a floating screen and started talking to me, he knew exactly what was happening" Tails finally explained looking away from the intimidating hedgehog.

Most of the anger left Shadow then asked "How the hell did he know, does he have a the hideout tapped?"

"He said it's the place Fiona and I fought Metal Nack, I eve chose the same place he had chosen as his sniping spot" Tails briefly explained feeling stupid for doing something so obvious.

"Shit!" Shadow cursed "Is that it?Is that all he wanted, to gloat?"

Fiona was curious too and looked back to the male fox sure Shadow was done threatening him.

"He… he told me about Sonic…" Tails began already feeling his stomach start to churn.

"Sonic? What? Is he still alive?" Shadow asked hope in his eyes again, even he would be happy to know his rival was still alive. The simple fact Sonic was a threat again could make Eggman make mistakes.

Tails' lip quivered "Yes…. And no…. mostly no"

Shadow and Fiona both adopted questioning and confused faces.

Tails continued "Eggman… he…. He told me that last video we saw of Sonic wasn't the end…. He took him bck to his base and…. He tortured him, mentally and physically and…. He broke him"

His two companions listened intensely now, the sheer realization that Sonics mind had been broken already caused them both to freeze in place but they could tell he wasn't done.

"He said…. He said he warped his mind so much that Sonic…. He …. He saw that Eggman was the true savior of Mobius and decided to work for him…. And eventually volunteered to be what he is now" Tears fell from the foxes eyes.

"No" Shadow mumbled anger rising again "No that… that thing we just fought, that wasn't him?" it was a question more than a statement, but the silence Tails gave answered it.

"Chaos…. Sonic…. Working with Eggman" he mumbled again all emotion escaping his body.

"No that's impossible… but…. Eggmans done even more cruel things before" Fiona spoke to herself trying to wrap her head around the horrifying idea of Sonic being a bad guy. Preaching all the good stuff and being a role model to all…. Turned to evil, she just couldn't believe it.

So far only the three knew about it, Scourge was still trying to even sit up while Nicole tended to him while Silver was tending to Blaze.

Fiona after a few moments of simply trying to comprehend an evil Sonic noticed the amount of pain Tails was in. She was quickly by his side.

"Tails look at me"

He shook his head, not only did he feel weak for not taking the shot sooner but he didn't want Fiona to see the tears in his eyes, to show he was weak in front of her.

"Tails" she said far more softly "Please look at me"

He tried to stifle his cries to sniffles and his head slowly tilted back up to her opening his eyes.

He was met by heavenly eyes. It was enough to calm him down.

"I'm sorry" he mumbled to her.

"You have nothing to be sorry about, we all did our best"

"No…. I hesitated…. Eggman planned it. He planned to tell me and see how I'd react… and I hesitated" he failed, and failed everyone else.

"Nobody is dead, and any injuries we've sustained are minor. Nothing bad happened" Fiona reassured him.

"But what if someone had gotten hurt badly or killed? Look at Shadows leg, the stress is making him limp" Tails was having another bout with his confidence. He couldn't be a leader like Sonic had been.

"We're a team which means not everything is your responsibility. We all have a responsibility to do our best" the female explained.

"And once I'm off my leg it will get better" Shadow commented, although that might have been a lie.

"See it's temporary" Fiona continued to reassure him.

With some time Tails eventually tried to get to his feet, with Fiona's help. He didn't say he agreed with her he just wanted to go home.

The trio looked to the other four and found Scourge prying Nicoles PDA from Sonics severed arm and eventually rip open the fingers and retrieved the device. Nicole just smiled to him covering the fact she'd been actually staring at his muscles as he tried his best to pry her free of the hand.

Silver got Blaze back to consciousness and besides some soreness she seemed fine already on her feet with Silvers help.

"You guys ok?" Fiona asked seeing Tails not in the mood to be the leader right now.

"Just beat up thankfully" Blaze coughed out a little using Silver as support incase she fell.

It was then that Scourge passed the PDA over to the lynx then walked to Tails "What hell was that stunt you pulled, Nicole could have been crushed and you weren't there to end it until we were too tired to keep him still?" he oddly cared about Nicoles safety for once.

Shadow stepped in "He explained it, he was attacked by Eggman right as we got Metal into that stalemate" he lied wanting to keep the secret of Sonic going bad away from the rest.

Scourge just huffed and turned away. He was still very angry that Tails failed the one job he had which was sit there, watch and shoot but the lie was realistic enough to silence him.

"It seems it has escaped" Blaze commented.

"No shit" Scourge growled picking up the severed arm "He left us a souvenir though" he waved the arm to them.

In a small way Tails wanted to take that arm and tell Scourge off for essentially disrespecting his best friend but kept quiet, odds are he'd have a new arm soon.

"We should keep it, maybe I can find a use for it" Tails mumbled.

Scourge wanted to break it into pieces but took Tails' advice and picked it up. Then turned to Nicole and paused a moment "Hey Nicki… you ok?"

"Yes I'm fine, maybe scared in the moment but I am fine now. Thank you" She smiled appreciative of his concern.

"Good" he nodded, a little awkwardly so he looked off into the horizon.

Silver tended to Blaze but momentarily looked to his mentor and noticed the limp on his bad leg "Shadow, are you alright your leg?"

Unlike everyone else all Shadow had to do was send Silver a warning glare to keep him from asking further. Their relationship and Silver time with Shadow allowed them to communicate better than the others.

Tails walked over to Shadow and quietly said "We are talking about this when we get back" Shadow grit his teeth not liking that but had a feeling this wouldn't be a group talk, maybe just him and Fiona.

"We should try and get back before Eggman tries anything else" Fiona decided, with Shadow limping and everyone hurt besides Tails and Nicole they weren't fit to fight right now, or go fast. Better to get moving sooner rather than later.

Everyone agreed and started heading back for Freedom HQ…

Fiona waited awhile wanting to see if she could speak to Tails but he avoided talking to her for now, he just wanted to be alone for bit. Maybe she could try later one they were back at home.

As they walked Shadow limp became less noticeable, partially because the pain was going away and because he was forcing himself to walk better to hide how bad it really was. The idea that the team would tell him to hold himself back for this made him angry. He wasn't some old man who needed to be told his limits.

Blaze was already normal again, she may have taken a beating but he was fine now, outside some sore spots. If her was any indicator she looked fine.

Silver was still worried over her though, which annoyed her a little, but she still appreciated the concern.

Nicole walked next to Scourge, normally she'd be in her PDA while travelling to conserve on the power ring needed to be in holo-form but since they had a ton at home and plenty of charge left she didn't care.

Scourge walked with his hands inside his pockets, his jacket looking worse than when they found him.

"Scourge?" the lynx asked quietly.

"Hmm?"

"May I ask, why are your jacket and glasses to important to you?"

He sighed and thought about it if he should tell her "Well to be honest they were something that were mine for a long time. Everything I owned was bought through my dads money. Even after I kill…. He passed away it was still all of his money. The jacket and glasses were something that were always mine. And now it's still that way, my only real possessions" during his speech he took off his glasses and inspected them.

Nicole thought about what he said and eventually got what he meant "Then maybe when this is all over you can patch the jacket up?"

"Maybe" he shrugged "So why be a lynx, was it pre-programmed or did you choose it?"

"I can't quite answer that accurately. You know I didn't have a form for a long time, I simply was just that PDA. But I was designed by a man who had lost his daughter, both were lynx's and well….. he wanted me to become his new daughter, to replace her. Apparently I didn't seem to be growing much or at all so he decided to give me over to Sally for her birthday" she frowned, even though her life had gone in such exciting directions and she'd learned to be Mobian it still felt like she had been sort of….. Abandoned by her father "When I got my new holo-form I sort of subconsciously chose this form, maybe it was kind of programmed. I could change it but, I am who I am now and I'd have it no other way. I don't ever want to be my deceased sister, I just want to be me"

Scourge listened, he caught the frown when she explained she'd been passed off, even he found that kind of cruel "Well I guess your life was more exciting this way instead of being a scientists daughter "

"I suppose so, and through it got a real living sister out of it, Sally" she smiled before remembering Sally was gone now. She always knew that would happen, she was a computer, she'd outlive her organic sister, she just ever expected it to be so soon and so suddenly.

"Wouldn't be here either I bet" Scourge said.

"No I suppose I wouldn't, I more than likely would have never met all the people I did and more than likely be used as a weapon or destroyed if Eggman ever found me" Despite everything this life still sounded better than that.

Scourge smiled "Ya, not sure how'd it be if you hadn't been around, would have never broke into that factory without you. Atleast as easily as we did" Considering both of them nearly got taken down by the same invisi-bot they could both only imagine how hard taking down that factory would have been if they hadn't hacked in.

"Yes, that would have been a much worse, I can only imagine what would have become of me if you hadn't been there" she blushed thankful for him pushing through his pain to narrowly save her.

"Oh… ya, it's was nothing" he shrugged dismissing it "I just wanted to make that thing pay for beating me up" he quickly shrugged again.

Nicole just smiled again, despite his explanation having nothing to do with saving her she still was very appreciative.

"I wish I could repay you somehow though" she spoke again.

Scourge continued to avoid eye contact "No you've…. Done enough, you don't owe me anything"

"What have I done?" she seemingly had no clue she'd payed him back so she was curious.

"I don't know… you hung out with me I guess…. Watched me when I was hurt even though I tried to make you go away…. Gave me that back rub" he mumbled the last part, but her big ears caught it.

His explanation made her blush again, she'd just thought she was helping him recover but now that he repeated them back to her it didn't sound quite that way…. Especially the back rub.

"Maybe…. I was…. pushing my boundaries a bit" she apologized "You were kinda annoyed with me" she frowned not liking the idea of him being angry at her.

"No it was fine, I mean… it was nice actually" he scratched the back of his head confused by what he was even doing.

"Really?" the lynx asked a little excited to hear him say that, she had no idea why though.

"Ya… it was pretty good… your hands are…. Soft"

"Soft?" she sounded confused but a weird feeling came in her chest.

He hadn't expected the last bit to come out, but it had "Ya… I guess you did that with your holo-form or something" he tried to dismiss it and guess that she had changed her holo-form to be softer to the touch when she did that.

"Oh, no I haven't done any modifications to my form since I got it besides clothing and simulating growth as best I can" explaining that felt weird, but she still felt good knowing that Scourge had described her fur as soft.

"Ah well then I guess your fur is just naturally soft" he shrugged looking forward to the horizon but slightly to the left so she wasn't in his peripheral vision.

Hearing that made her have a sudden drive to ask "If you liked it you could touch it again?" she clearly didn't think it through as it came out and sounded like she meant something else.

"W-what?" he choked suddenly. He'd heard stuff like that before from other woman, he'd would just smirk and accept the offer, but hearing her say that through off his composure.

His reaction made her heart sink "I apologize if I said something wrong" now looking to the ground feeling like she did something wrong.

"No… you didn't… just…. What do you mean by that…. Because…. I've…. Heard it before and used in different ways" he didn't want to directly say it to her for some reason and hoped she'd deduce it herself.

"I meant just feel my paw again" she frowned.

Scourge sighed slightly seeing just how innocent she actually meant it but then realized what that also implied "My hand is covered in crud anyway, wouldn't want to get you all dirty" he realized how crappy of an excuse that was half a second after.

"No, it'd be fine, my holo form can't really get dirty" she smiled hand extended out to him a little, he could see a bit of excitement in her eyes.

Due to her earlier statement his head was still sort of in the gutter and wondered for about half a second if her holo form could get 'dirty' NO! Stop! He wanted to smack himself but he went back to reality looking to her hand

He'd already seen how disappointed she was when he mistaken her first statement and honestly he felt bad making her feel bad. He looked out to the others of the group, they were all ahead of them either in their own world or talking so he looked to her hand one more time then her hopeful eyes and sighed.

He slowly put out a hand from his pocket and rather gently held her hand.

For Nicole it was something she'd never felt before, the small feeling in her chest only intensified, it felt great. Ideas of touching more than his hand came to her mind and seeing if this feeling restricted to just holding his hand or if it intensified with more contact. She clearly had no understanding of what was really going on, Her inexperience making her think much more innocent thoughts and reasons for what was happening. Luckily she was in control enough to know any further would be crossing boundaries.

For Scourge it felt much more strange, he knew what was going on and frankly…. He was scared. He'd had these feelings before, hell Fiona and him felt this way for awhile but unlike with Fiona he was now scared. Because now he knew it was more important… and maybe real.

With Fiona he had always had the feeling that she used him to escape from her friends. Why? He had a few theories but he never dared asked. He knew Nicole had nowhere to run from, she wanted to be here, with her friends doing what she could to save the world. She wasn't gonna leave them. There was no reason for her to be doing this outside of real emotions.

"Those emotions were directed at him…. Him of all people, he could tell she didn't even know. That only scared him more. After everything he hated the idea of hurting her, she'd been so good to him. Such a nice girl had given him the time of day knowing he was a murderer, a jerk and a villain. He didn't know why it started but knew now why it continued.

He was scared because in a way…. He didn't care anymore, ever since he'd been kicked out of Moebius he'd come to the conclusion he had no home, no friends, safe place to go and was trapped in a universe that knew he was a bad guy.

He'd thought about it, a lot, and hid it well. Why was he even alive? But now he meant something to somebody now. She didn't even know it but if he were to…. Go away or die, she'd be devastated. She'd only recently learned all her friends, and sister were gone. Her few friends left were in constant danger of death and now the guy she seemed to have feelings for didn't care about his own life anymore.

Yet he cared about hers.

He wouldn't tell anyone that but he didn't want to see her hurt. She gave off a feeling of innocence and wanting to be a genuinely good person. So much so that it was affecting him too. He hated seeing her frown, he hated seeing her afraid. He hated seeing her in danger. When he got angry with her he felt guilty for doing so and felt the need to apologize afraid she wouldn't come back if he didn't.

He'd gotten used to her presence, he refused to leave her behind when the base was attacked. Everyday he felt like he needed her more.

But he was Scourge the anti Sonic, the bad guy. He wasn't what she needed. He would only hurt her, but he didn't want to. He was stuck now, unable to hurt her but would hurt her by pushing her away.

So right now he decided to just hold her hand and walk, she was smiling and her paw was soft.

The group continued to walk silently after that oblivious to the hedgehog and lynx. They were able to make good time. Apparently Eggman was content with revealing Metal Sonics true identity and seeing how that affected the group.

They arrived back late afternoon sneaking through the city like before and made it back safe and sound. Any soreness anyone felt was either gone or turned to a dull numb feeling.

Of them all Blaze was the most hurt and as soon as they got back Silver got some medical supplies to help her out. Blaze had sat up against the wall by the time her friend came back.

"Silver you do not have to worry over me, I can tend to myself" she hated feeling like a child and requiring help.

He just chuckled "Don't worry Blaze, Shadow taught me a bunch of first aid I promise I won't hurt ya"

"It is not that Silver, I just don't want you worrying over me when I am able to take care of myself" she looked away though finding his willingness to stay by her side somewhat….. charming.

"No that wouldn't be very fair right? When I got hurt you were there for me. Besides I just want to make sure you're ok" Silver explained rummaging through his supplies.

She sighed and nodded pulling up her first sleeve where she'd take a bad hit and was still sore.

Silver gently put a small amount of pressure where she directed eventually getting her to hiss a bit and said "Hmmm, hope that's just a lump and not something wrong with your bone. Either way, here's something to relieve the pain"

He got some cream and rubbed a small amount on the area. He got a relieved sign, the cool gel already making her feel better already.

With that done he did the same for another spot on the other arm then asked "Ok, so anywhere else?" he was sure there was but he wanted to ask anyway.

"Uhh… yes… my side" she said nervously because she'd have to lift up her top and then feel him rub his hand along it. It wasn't because she didn't want him to but more because she wanted him to. His hands touching her arms felt really nice it made her skin tingle, she had to hold back purring when he did it.

She had never felt that way with someone, in fact she had spent awhile with him now and was sure she liked him. He was kind, caring, selfless and she admittedly like his chest fur a lot.

"Oh, ya, ok" the male said trying to cover up that he was also nervous.

So with a really bad blush and shaky hands Blaze lifted up her shirt enough to reveal her stomach and side then pointed to where it hurt. From what the hedgehog could tell, she had bruised bad and had now turned darker under her fur. He frowned at the sight somewhat forgetting he was gently touching the girl he liked.

"Unfortunately besides the cream there isn't much I can do here either" he was already getting the cream.

"Oh, well I guess that's bad…. I'm sure it will help though" she said secretly kind of waiting for him to apply the cream.

When he finally did the combination of his soft touch and the soothing cream forced her to purr this time. Neither noticed at first until Silver pulled away.

"Oh… I'm sorry" she scratched her head nervously avoiding eye contact.

"No t's right, I guess it's some good stuff" giving all credit to the cream.

"Oh ya, that… ya" Blaze nodded taking the excuse.

"Is that all you're gonna need?" he asked kinda wanting to stop pushing his boundaries.

"Yes I believe that's all that really needs tending to…. Do you want some help? I remember you taking a hit or two?" Blaze nervously asked.

"Well I guess my chest kind hurts from the head-butt he gave me but-"

"Here let me assist you, I want to return the favor" she said sitting up on her knees swiping the cream from his grasp before he could protest. She had no idea what she was doing but she heard his chest hurt and the idea of running her fingers through his chest fur spurred her to action faster than she even realized, like a primal want. She'd never lost control like that and she wasn't quite done yet.

"No Blaze you really don't have to" her was too nervous, his heart was pounding. She had something in her eyes he couldn't quite figure out and he had wanted to get out of here and end the awkward situation sooner rather than later.

"No, fair is fair" she grabbed his wrist, just a little too tightly than she wanted "Just be still" she ordered.

He wanted to cringe feeling her claws poke at his skin but kept it together "I… ok"

She got some cream in her hand and began gently applying it under his chest fur actually wanting to sooth some pain, she doubted the cream would actually work through all the fur so avoided it for now.

Despite his anxiety the stuff did feel good and his breathing slowed watching her hand like at any moment they'd stab into him, of course they never did as they slowly drifted up into his chest fur slowly digging in.

For Blaze it was new, different and exciting. It was soft and warm. So much so that her other hand drifted over and began playing with the fur.

"Uhh… Blaze?"

"Shhhh" she cooed slowly leaning forward, her brain not controlling her anymore.

Her fingers needed at the soft fur her eyes focused on the task, an inexperienced lust in her eyes.

Now only about an inch away from him from leaning so close her eyes slowly drifted up until she met his eyes.

She gasped and quickly stopped ripping away her hands "I am sorry!" she got to her feet and walked fast away from him.

What the hell just happened? She lost control, she didn't lose control. She wasn't like that, she never let her emotions beat her brain. What happened?

Mean while Silver just sat there dumbfounded, he had no idea what was going on with her either, meeting his eyes with her in that moment his whole body froze and he didn't even register her leaving.

When he finally came to she was long gone. All he could wonder was why did she run? Did he do something wrong? What even happened?

All these questions in his mind but no one to answer them. He was too afraid to talk to Blaze about it, what if he had crossed a boundary with his first aid and it made her not like him? Maybe he could ask Shadow?

He tried to shake the worries away but couldn't so he packed up the medical supplies and put them away feeling like thinking things over for now before asking possibly stupid questions would help.

 **So I feel like this is a semi ok spot to end, I wanted to get this particular chapter out because well…. I feel like if I didn't now I'd want to add more later and now that my trip is over I may lose track of time and take awhile so here's a new chapter for you guys out there.**

 **Hope I'm still doing everything right and am up to par. Thanks for taking the time to read.**

 **Live long and prosper**

 **Admiralkirk**


	33. Clueless

**A/N K so last chapter had lots of feels, hope that was nice, to get to serious talks…. Or maybe feels again we'll see.**

 **Thanks to everyone who enjoyed the last chapter and if you recently have found this story and reached this chapter thanks for reading always love new faces…. That I can't see. Anyway So far I'm glad to see nobody is finding anything I'm doing bad, especially Nicole and Scourge I thought by now I'd be getting flak for that. But thanks for being so supportive of this apparently 'new coupling' I may have just pioneered Scourge and Nicole romances. Doubt it but maybe lol.**

 **Anyway for anyone who feels I've left Fiona and Tails out that is mostly because I got them together, they are tight and good for now and I thought working on others would be worth more of my time. I mean they were all ready to go and kiss until Shadow came over.**

 **Hope you guys enjoy enjoy!**

How could this get any worse? Sonic was now a near unstoppable enemy with unshakable devotion to Eggman. Not to mention Shadow, one of the most powerful and versatile people on the team was hiding just how bad his leg had been. Now they had to talk about it.

"I'm fine, see it was just a limp from the fight" Shadow lied. He showed off walking perfectly well, but in reality was feeling a little pain in his knee.

"Don't lie to me. That limp was bad" Tails accused making Shadow get angry.

To add to it Fiona explained "We all saw it Shadow, you were slower than Scourge and Sonic, your leg is slowing you down"

The lack of faith in him and insult to his speed made Shadow grit his teeth holding back anger "I am fine. I'm not gonna let one incident keep me out of the fight"

"No one said keep you out of the fight. I just want to make sure you don't break your leg by pushing too far. We won't have time and resources to carry you if you lose it" Tails explained sternly. His confidence seemingly back despite the depression he was in on the way home.

Fiona guessed that his confidence was either him temporarily putting away the bad thoughts or was putting up an act. She didn't believe he was over the news.

"I know my limits, you don't need to monitor me!" Shadow growled. Like hell he was gonna let someone monitor his body, it felt like GUN all over again. Wanting to keep him on such a short leash, but he wasn't taking any of that before and he refused to be controlled now.

"We're just making precautions, calm Shadow"

"No! I can handle myself. We're in a situation where even ninety nine percent could mean a loss. We fight hard, we fight as best we can as long as we can and we either win or lose. If we don't then we will lose" Shadow growled explaining is argument.

"Yes, and what's worse? Dead weight on mission because of a broken knee or holding back a little bit?" Tails explained his side as well.

"I won't be dead weight" Shadow declared angrily.

"Do you want to risk that?" Fiona asked. She knew Tails was right, if Shadow pushed himself and got hurt they'd all have to compensate, take away their attention from the situation and most likely mess everything up.

"I know exactly how to control myself" he growled again.

Tails was getting frustrated now. If he was anyone else he might lose his confidence because he as the leader he should be able to control the people under him, but Shadow was never much of a team player in the past.

"Ok, why don't you cool off and think about it" Perhaps some time to think and calm down would enlighten him.

Shadow just scoffed, he walked out sure of himself and slammed the door.

Once the bang of the doors echo went away Tails leaned back against his work bench and pinch the bridge of his nose "How did Sally and Sonic do this?" he kinda wanted to put Shadow in his place, but knew that would not only be a terrible choice as a leader but he'd lose everytime.

You did fine Tails. We all know Shadow is stubborn and used to working alone, or atleast calling the shots. If it were someone else they'd likely listen more than him" Fiona explained leaning against the bench next to him.

He took a long sigh and look at all the old rusted parts he'd left behind further in the room knowing she was right. Didn't make him feel better though, it seemed the role of leader had fallen on him and if he couldn't control Shadow he could get everyone killed.

"I'm just worried…"

"I know" she said softly leaning on his shoulder.

The two sat there silently for awhile allowing both to think. Tails just thought about what he'd learned today. His best friend turned and whole heartedly working for his former nemesis. Everything he'd fought for he now fought against.

Fiona on the other hand was trying to figure out a way to approach that subject. Hearing Sonic had turned shocked but it didn't paralyze her. On a lesser scale she had done the exact same thing and for different reasons. She couldn't find an easy way to ask and didn't expect him to talk on his own so just went with her best idea.

"You alright?"

"In which way, physically, mentally or emotionally?" he knew, he just wanted to delay the inevitable, even if it was for another second or two.

"You know what I mean Tails. I know it's getting to you" her voice quiet and caring, in a small way it really relieving to be able to be close to him, comfort him and be alone with him after so long of her trying to avoid it. No time to think about that he needed help and she wanted make him feel better, or atleast try.

"I guess I still haven't learned how to what's going on in my head after all these years" he joked a little.

She just smiled remembering back when. He was terrible at keeping his composure around her. Even then he was usually terrible at hiding his concerns and worries. Luckily Sonic and Sally were there for him and made sure he was ok. Reassuring him, making him stop crying, making him feel good when he did something good.

In a small way she was sort of jealous of them for that.

"I guess not" she smiled "You want to talk about it?"

He was quiet for awhile looking off his space thinking. Eventually he sighed and wrapped an arm around her. He rubbed it up and down her side letting her head slip into the crook of his neck.

"Running from my problems hasn't helped me for the last few years…. So I guess I should talk about it"

She smiled softly partially because he was willing to talk to her about his problems and also because the embrace was very nice. She almost had to resist cuddling up more.

"I just never thought he could be broken so far" Tails started "He…. I just don't understand how…"

"I know what you mean, I mean I've made some mistakes, lied to myself so I could…. Avoid pain" she clearly meant when she left the team to avoid hurting herself and Tails incase she lost control of herself.

But she continued "I had to lie to myself that what I was doing was what I wanted. That I wanted to be with Scourge, that I wanted to hurt people…. Kill people. That Id din't…. care about any of you…. after awhile I believed it. I tricked my own mind to believe that was what I wanted" she shook her head "Until Scourge abandoned me and it all slowly started to come back"

He pulled her a little closer sorry she had to go through all that, just to keep herself from making a mistake. "But it's not exactly like that, he didn't allow himself to enter the other side and lie to himself. He was broken. Broken minds rarely make sense"

She nodded agreeing to that "Broken minds are rarely fixed too"

With a very slow and sad nod Tails had to agree as well "It wouldn't even matter, Eggman said that even though Sonic made the decision to be transformed on his own he added a chip that makes it impossible for him to change his mind anyway…. There's not much we can do" Outside outright destroying Sonic he had no way of ending all this.

"But… he's a machine now, if we captured him couldn't you remove the chip and we could try to reason with him" Fiona hoped they could do that. She just desperately wanted to do something right and get Tails and Sonic to reunite, so he'd be happy again… a small but very important part of his old life back.

"No" he said bluntly surpsising her.

"What, why not?" it almost sounded like Tails had given up on his best friend "After all he's done for you and you'd abandon him like that?" she suddenly got angry with him pulling away from his grasp and staring him in the with her angry glare, disgust filling her gaze.

To hersurprise Tails stayed calm, far more calm than she had hoped to expect. Without a shred of anger he explained "Look how hard we worked just to blow his arm off? He's beaten us near to death twice now. Handled four people attacking him at once. He's immune to electrical based attacks, Silver abilities and is too fast for everyone but Scourge and even that's debatable. We'd would never be able to capture him, he'd either run or kill us before we could"

Even though it still felt like he was giving up on Sonic she had to admit his logic was sound. Her anger slowly receded but Tails still wasn't done.

"Eggman may have rigged him with an explosive incase we try to meddle with him anyway, and who's to say he'll ever believe us and come back to our side if that all works out. Like you said a broken mind rarely changes. I have to face facts…. He's gone and the only thing I can do for him now is to put him out of his misery once and for all"

Tails looked down at the floor, he refused to look her in the eye. He'd basically said he was ready to murder his friend, but he wasn't, he truly would never be ready to perform such a thing. He had to, whether he wanted to or not.

Fiona was surprised, not angry. After hearing what he said she knew that was the one option. That still didn't make the task any easier. It'd be hard for anyone here to kill Sonic besides Scourge.

"I'm sorry I just… it sounded like you were abandoning him and I have some experience in that. On both sides" Referencing how she abandoned him and the freedom fighters and then being left behind by Scourge.

"I know…. I really do wish there was something I could do but there really isn't any realistic solution that keeps him alive. You saw the videos, he was already near insanity swimming in guilt and loneliness. Eggman just pushed him the last bit" He sighed.

"We'll need the railgun…. Unless we stumble on something stronger" Fiona said "And Eggman and Sonic know it exists, they won't just give us another chance again"

Tails had to agree "I think it's about time we use the resources around us. This city may be dead but it's still full of useful stuff we can use. I'm gonna have to start collecting supplies"

"The city is being patrolled constantly, they could find you" Fiona asked worried.

He was glad she was worried but he was confident he could do this. He'd been on part collection in the past to upkeep his old home "I had Nicole map out all the patrols in the city for me after we got here. That's how we're able to get in and out of the city so easily. I'll have her upload it to my suit so I can monitor it at all times. Besides I'll have my cloak" he smiled to her, talking about other things helped him relax.

Fiona had to remember he had the suit, now that she wasn't running from her feelings now she had to remember how capable he was. he wasn't that kid anymore. He was grown up and completely capable of handling himself now.

"Right sorry, I forgot about that suit…. I'm sure you'll be fine" she smiled

"I'll be careful if that's what you're worried about Fi" he said then nuzzled into her "I got you to come back to now"

She couldn't help but giggle at his cuddling, but also at the sappy line "That was so bad" she laughed "But very sweet" she cuddled back tail wagging.

"But I think that can wait until tomorrow. For now I just want to rest. Fully digest what happened today and stay like this for awhile…. Or until someone bugs us again" his own tails wagging a little.

"I think I'd like that" Fiona said softly relaxing in his arms.

Elsewhere…

Scourge had found his way to the top of Freedom and sat over the edge of the roof. After returning Scourge had managed to get away from Nicole for awhile. He had gone for a run, gotten something to eat and ended up here on the roof.

He had honestly wanted to get away from everyone, especially Nicole. Think about what happened, or more precisely, what was already in motion.

Nicole liked being around him, she was already trying to make him feel better. She watched over him when he was hurt and now he knew why. But what he didn't know was if she even knew what she was doing. She seemed to innocently want to hold his hand. It wasn't like girls before that he had met.

Girl before were just full of lust. The closest he'd ever come to a girl actually wanting more was Fiona and he knew now that was a lie. No this was genuine. Nicole had feelings for him. He couldn't believe it, such a nice girl had actually falling for him.

Why did he care? He never cared if the girl liked him, hell no. He may have broken some hearts in his past and not even cared…. Why'd here care now.

Oh right, she's amazing. She didn't condemn him for his past, she showed him kindness and extended friendship to him when she clearly didn't have to. There were much more cooperative and easy going people in this group and she chose to hang out with him. She didn't want anything besides make him feel welcome.

So now the question was, did he have feelings for her too?

The aanswer? After a lot of thinking he was sure he did. It only occurred to him now that he'd actually had some time away from her. Yes, he had feelings for Nicole.

So what was his problem, she liked him, he liked her. What's the problem? Was it because she was an AI? Was it because she was from Mobius. No, neither of those.

She was simply too good, too innocent…. Too amazing for him.

Back when he was with Fiona he would occasionally over step himself. It was terrible to admit but he'd hurt her once or twice. He'd pressured her to help him. The first person she'd ever killed was because he demanded it.

Flashback…

"Fiona, will show you just how loyal she is you traitors. Fi, do it" he growled tossing over a gun to her.

Her tough exterior suddenly melted catching the gun "Wait wow you never said anything about this…"

"Plans changed, I changed my mind. He betrayed me now you show him what happens to people who fuck with me"

"B-but S-scourge I ca-"

"I don't think you want to finish that sentence, or are you telling me you wouldn't do everything you could to protect me, your king!" His fangs exposed threatening her.

"N-no but these people, they are unarmed…. Helpless they-"

"Silence, kill him now or so help me!" fist balled up ready to teach her a lesson, one she had learned in the past.

Fiona cowered hearing that and looked to the ground then to the gun in her hands. She slowly held it properly finger on the trigger and with a trembling hand pointed it to the helpless Moebian tear in her eye.

"DO IT!"

BANG

Present…

Scourge sighed remembering that. The idea of Nicole being in that situation sickened him. The very thought of forcing her to compromise her ideals, it made him hesitate. He had heard about how she'd been hated by the very city she protected. She never took revenge, she only ever tried to make them trust her. If she was that strong to stave off so much hatred and mis-trust and not take any aggression out on them he could only imagine what killing someone would be like for her.

He wasn't who she needed, he was terrible. He'd only ever drag her down and make her change into something she didn't like. He hated the idea of hurting her but he knew pushing her away would hurt her too.

"Why couldn't I just be the loner of the group and take off as soon as we're done or all die?" Things would have been easier that way.

"Dammit" he sighed putting his head in his hand before scratching at his forehead.

Perhaps he could live with hurting her by pushing her away, she'd be ok after awhile right? She'd get over it.

"Are you alright?"

"Huh, what?" he jumped and looked back to find the very lynx he had been thinking of. He inwardly sighed, right when he was starting to make a plan. He'd forgotten she could leave the building by carrying her own PDA, the thought of that was kinda trippy, carrying yourself.

"I'm sorry, did I surprise you?" she apologized.

"A little" he shrugged turning and looking out at the view in front of him. He hoped she'd get the hint and leave him be. Another part wanted her to stay.

"I'm sorry" she paused clearly taking a moment to think or let him speak "Why are you on the roof?"

"I…. wanted to be alone" he had to stop himself from say something that would hint at what he was really doing.

"Oh… I see" she said sounding a little sad to hear that, she'd wanted to speak with him.

"Ya…." He was so close to asking why she was looking for him but that'd give her a reason to stay.

"I was hoping you'd be ok to talk, but if you want to be alone then I will leave you be" since he was looking away he couldn't see her ears curl back.

Not being able to see her didn't make it any easier.

The lynx briefly paused "I'm sorry if I angered you somehow"

"What!?" he suddenly sat up straight then got to his feet "You haven't done anything to anger me" he mentally cursed at himself right after.

"I haven't?" she asked surprised by his sudden change. Perhaps he did just want to be alone. After holding his hand earlier all she wanted to do was speak with him for some reason.

"No, what could you have possibly done to annoy me?" he asked rhetorically.

"I thought perhaps you felt like I was bugging you too much and was avoiding me" she mumbled.

While he was avoiding her it wasn't because she had been bugging him. He sighed "No it's not…. Just got things going on in my head. Wanted to be somewhere quiet"

"Is something troubling you?" she asked worried it would hinder him somehow.

"Sort of, but you don't need to worry about it" he turned away to look back off along the skyline.

Nicole frowned turning away. She wanted to ask what was wrong, but he said he wanted to be alone. She wasn't sure what made her really want to stay and talk. Maybe it was her programming acting up. Yes! That must be it, her personal assistant programming, of course.

"I have many assistant protocols, it is healthy to talk about things that bother you" she turned offer assistance.

Scourge looked to her that was quite a computer way to say it. It only solidified that she had no idea what was going on and was trying to find ways to justify herself in her own mind.

"Nikki, you don't need to worry over me all the time. I don't need help" he said. He'd said things like that in the past, of course he hated asking for help even when he needed it.

"Are you sure?" she felt bad, like being rejected, but why? All she did was offer to listen to his problem and he said he could handle it himself. Why did that make her hurt so much?

The green hedgehog took a deep breath then exhaled while also saying "Yes" making sure to look out at the city instead of her.

The lynx's ears curled back her hands fiddling behind her back and said "Yes… of course, I shall leave you be then. Try to enjoy yourself" she bid farewell and went inside.

When he was sure she was gone he waited another few seconds before sighing depressingly and adopted a tired and sad face. He felt horrible for making her go away, he really wanted to talk to her about what she was going through but if he did it would only encourage her. He covered his face with his hand slouching a little hating himself. Eventually he just sat on the edge again like he had before Nicole showed up.

Staring over the edge of the building he could only wonder if he was making the right descision…

Inside…

Silver sat against a wall thinking about what happened with Blaze. He still had no idea why she suddenly got so…. Touchy.

All he did was sooth her wounds. After he did the one on her side she suddenly went…. Weird. She suddenly became assertive, which he wasn't unheard of for her. Though it was when she suddenly started playing with his chest fur that he knew something was going on.

In that moment his body literally stopped breathing for a moment. Her eyes were so intense. That smile seemed very different then normal, like a smirk of some kind. He was so confused yet….. excited to see her like that.

Then she looked into his eyes and all of that emotion left her face before he could study it further and she was gone basically in a flash. Did he do something wrong? Was his confusion mistaken for fear? Was she afraid she scared him?

It sounded stupid but it was one of the more probable ones going through his head.

Eventually he decided to ask someone. Someone he asked a lot of question, his mentor Shadow.

Silver ran off to find the dark hedgehog. It was somewhat hard, he didn't know the building too well yet and unknown to him Shadow was trying to get away from everyone after his conversation with Fiona and Tails.

Eventually he had to resort to yelling out for him.

"Hey Shadow, you out there!? I wanted to talk a bit"

"Would you keep it down, we may be inside but it's quiet enough out in the dead city that stuff like that can be heard" Shadow growled appearing from a doorway his loud voice disturbing his quiet.

The younger hedgehog smacked himself "Right… sorry, but seriously I wanted to talk"

"I'm done talking for awhile" Shadow growled.

"What's got you so twisted up?" Silver asked kowing that tone, it wasn't his normal annoyed tone, he was actually angry right now.

"Do I look like some old man who needs to be watched and held back!?" he suddenly snapped at Silver.

"Huh? What? What gave you that idea?"

"Because that's what Tails and Fiona want to do to me, I'm not sitting on the side lines!" he yelled angrily, his fangs glimmering in the shallow light.

"Nobody said you'd have to stop fighting, they only want you to keep yourself from getting hurt" Silver explained.

"I have been doing that this entire time"

"Then it would have been good to know you had a problem before we put you head to head with a super powered robotic version of Sonic"

"So how would that have changed anything?" Shadow asked feeling he'd have been held back anyway.

"We would have known and been able to adjust plans around it. We could have had Scourge fight Metal Sonic more than you since he is up to full speed"

"So I would be side lined?" Shadow growled.

"No your role would be changed. Tails knows how powerful you are, he'd never let your powers and abilities go to waste. Back when it was just us two you said he was a smart kid. Very smart. Now that I've met him and gotten past that angry side of him I know you didn't give him enough justice. He's brilliant and would never just waste your skills" Silver explained defending the fox.

Though Silver wasn't done "Look at what he's accomplished with this rag tag group. We've destroyed an entire factory together, fought wave upon wave of eggbots, survived an ambush that I still have no idea how we survived through, then survived the destruction of the base and thrived through it by finding this place. All with the most bare minimum of supplies and equipment. All of this because of his quick wit, plans and intelligence"

After his short speech in defense of Tails Shadow went quiet to think on his student's words. He was ashamed thinking that Tails would just forget about him. Even if he didn't have powers Tails would have still found a plan that he would be apart. He only had to look to Fiona, she had no actual powers but she found her uses.

That wasn't all though, he was simply surprised that Silver stood up to him. Normally he'd have agreed with him or taken a neutral stance in the matter. He always hated when he was indecisive. Now the younger hedgehog had taken a direct stand against him. He was impressed by that. It brought a small momentary smile to his face.

"I'm sorry" he admitted shocking Silver "I wasn't thinking clearly"

"It's alright Shad. We know you want to win this fight as much as the rest of us, even more possibly. We're all in this together and we aren't gonna squander your skill alright?" Silver offered a kind smile to his mentor.

Shadow looked to him and silently apologized, he knew Silver would get it. He'd never admit it but Silver was one of his closest friends. Him standing up to him and defending Tails surprisingly told him how much he cared for him too. Because he defended Tails but still made sure to explain that nobody thought he was useless.

Silver had forgotten why he even wanted to find Shadow, he was happy that he'd gotten Shadow to understand.

Shadow didn't though and asked "So what did you need to talk about?"

"Oh uhhh, right…. My problem" he scratched his head nervously now wondering if he should dump his problems on Shadow.

"Problem? I thought you wanted to talk?"

Silver sighed looking away a little then finally said "Ok… I was…. helping Blaze with her wounds. You know just putting some soothing ointment on the painful spots and well…. Things got weird"

Shadow raised his eyebrow, forget that things got weird he was impressed by Silver's boldness. He had to admit that was smooth, he clearly hadn't picked up on that fact that Silver meant to just help instead of make a move.

Shadow realized that he mentioned it got weird and asked "Uhhhh, weird?" wanting more explaining.

"Well, when I was done, she suddenly insisted she do the same for me on my chest because Metal Sonic head butt me there. Before I can really do anything she's…. messing with my chest fur and super close to me and…"

Shadow smirked "Oh I didn't think it would happen but you did it" he jumped to conclusions, why was it weird?

"What? What would happen, that she suddenly ran away?" he asked completely confused.

"Wait…. She ran off?" Shadow asked now just as confused as he was now "I thought she was coming on to you?"

"What!? What would give you that idea….. oh shit" Silver finally caught up with the situation.

Shadow sighed at his friend shaking his head "Sometimes I wonder how you breath?"

"How did I miss that…. Probably made her think I wasn't interested when I froze" he covered his face with a hand completely embarrassed and also feeling terrible for potentially discouraging her.

"You know the only way to fix this is to talk" Shadow explained the obvious.

He nodded already trying to think of ways to talk to Blaze about it "Thanks Shad, I really needed someone to talk to about that"

"No worries…." He looked away then mumbled just loud enough for Silver to hear "I'll speak with Tails later as well"

"That would probably be a good idea"

The two went quiet and bid eachother goodbye for a bit and went their separate ways.

Silver spent the rest of the afternoon thinking of how he'd speak to Blaze, when it got late he went to sleep. It was hard to sleep, everything in him wanted to go explain everything to Blaze his feelings, but he didn't know exactly what to say yet. Either way he stayed up in the night longer than he wanted to.

Blaze simply stayed away from everyone wanting to get her head and emotions back in check, her loss of control today worried her. First she couldn't control her own powers, despite all the training to try and do so, but now she couldn't control her own actions. Some quite meditation techniques she'd learned long ago to calm the fire inside her would hopefully fix it. Although everytime she got close to where she wanted to be the thought of speaking with Silver again would get her heart rate back up, this troubled her even more. It made sleep very hard.

Shadow was going to apologize to Fiona and Tails for jumping to conclusions later, he had a little too much pride to go and apologize so soon.

Scourge stayed up on the roof for another hour before going for an extended run. He kept away from patrols and simply kept thinking. Thinking about that face Nicole had when she heard he wanted to be alone. Thinking about what he should do in the future about all this, flat out separate from the team in everyway except for missions or just slowly distance his personality away from everyone and just be distant and rude to keep everyone away from him. He could do that to everyone except Nicole, he hated seeing her react felt a knot in his gut when he turned her away.

But he was certain that he was making the right decision, he couldn't bring himself to even risk hurting her and making her break all the rules she's lived by all this time. She was just to so indiscriminately nice to everyone, including him, despite what they did in the past. Just gave them second chances seemingly without thinking about it. That was just… amazing to him.

He shook his head from those thoughts and when the sun was about to fully set he came back and quickly went to bed.

Tails and Fiona had stayed in the workshop the rest of the afternoon embracing one another. But Tails needed to prepare for scavenging expeditions so got some supplies ready for the next day. Fiona stayed by his side allowing them both to just talk. After everything they learned today it was nice to just talk. For a moment it felt like the old days, except with less blushing from the male and teasing from the female. They even reminisced about a time when Tails had been working on something above the ground and when she came by to say hi he'd gotten nervous and twisted his tails and fell to the ground.

After he had everything ready Tails checked out all the limited equipment they had to make sure it was all still in check. Besides some minor dust, which he cleaned, everything looked fine. By then it was late so both foxes bid echother good night and went to sleep.

 **Gonna be honest, the first half of the chapter was done very fast and then suddenly I sort of forgot about it. Then whenever I did think about it I wasn't in the mood. So I apologize for the wait.**

 **It's also worth noting that my brother downloaded warframe on our xbox awhile back but deleted it due to having a problem on an escort mission where the person he was protecting kept walking into a wall infinitely no matter how many times he tried. I learned about it recently and am now playing that pretty hard. It's kinda like a what Destiny tried to be but with more weapon diversity, more classes(warframes) more planets, better lore, an actual crafting system, space dogs and cats and space ninjas. So if that description excites you check it out. The xbox one version got updated today with the latest major patch and it's free to play so there is literally no harm in trying it out. Although if you don't enjoy games that are constantly getting updates and possibly changing rules, powers, damage effects etc then it is not a game for you. But if you can look past that and the occasional bug then you will enjoy it a lot. The game is also fairly generous for a free to play game, there is a way to get everything that actually effects gameplay(Like not logos, and cosmetics) by simply playing and doing stuff. Almost anything you need can be earned then built with crafting. The most luck required is for the 'prime' parts which are basically better versions of the originals which are chance based but it's a semi controlled chance system. There obviously an in game store(Some items can be bought with earned money or real money, because it's a free to play game) if you want to just be lazy for a moment and buy some stuff(like me because I'm lazy and have too much money on my hands because my parents are nice and let a 20 year old only pay for his phone bill). So like I said check it out if you got the time it is available for both consoles(I do not know if the PS4 version is up to date with the xbox one or ahead of it but the PC is definetly ahead of both) If you enjoy fast gameplay and don't mind a game that requires some work to get into, like collecting items, resources and stuff like that it is really fun, especially with friends.**

 **I also want to blame work for changing my schedule around on me forcing me to work six days in a row since my usual Saturday off got deleted this week for a Thursday making me work from Tuesday to the next Tuesday.**

 **Lastly there may be another big delay that may get larger and larger because first, I'm still enjoying warframe, second xcom 2 for console is coming out on September 27, gears of war 4 is also coming out on my birthday(thanks for the birthday gift, me) and also titanfall 2 is coming out early October as well. I will be very pre occupied and I'm sorry if that(most likely) creates a large gap in my updates.**

 **Which brings me to my last thought is I feel like this chapter should have gone longer but I wanted it out now before I forget again. So I hope it was filling for your appetite and will allow you to wait until I get my lazy ass back in gear.**

 **I apologize if this authors note felt long and a little like a shitty advertisement as well.**

 **Live long and prosper**

 **Admiralkirk**


	34. Naughty fox

**A/N Ah ok so this is the next chapter, maybe I'll get a lot done because I randomly got a three day work week. Whatever, I'll see if I can use it.**

 **Also 'guest' thanks for the kind words, it's reviews like that that make me go all introspective and wonder "How am I fooling all these people into thinking I'm a good writer?" but seriously thanks for the kind review, those keep going when I get writers block**

Morning came and Fiona got up from bed still very tired. She wanted to go back to sleep, but she had other things to do.

After a quick stretch and some bones popping she used a small half broken mirror to check herself. Not too bad considering everything.

With that done she went out to meet everyone, if anyone was awake yet.

Unsurprisingly Nicole was up, although she technically never slept. Fiona noticed she didn't look too happy and didn't even notice her approach.

"Nicole, what's up?" she asked taking a seat at the small table that had become the dinner table.

"Huh? Oh… sorry I didn't notice you come in" the lynx apologized trying to get back to her normal state, and failing pretty bad at it "I am doing fine" she wasn't very convincing.

"You don't look very fine, I'm your friend you can talk to me" she felt like Sally saying something like that to the lynx.

"No it's ok I'm….." she frowned taking half a second to reconsider "… What would you do if someone was trying to stay away from you?"

That was an oddly specific question, what would possess her to say that? Fiona looked to the lynx and noticed she was avoiding her gaze. What was going on?

"What would make you want to ask that during all of this?" the fox asked.

"No reason, I-I…. I remember that experience happening in the past and not knowing what to do. Always trying to learn…. Right?" she clearly sucked at lying.

Fiona almost prodded for more but perhaps she could get it more subtly "I'm gonna need more information to answer that question. Like is there a particular reason I want this person to stop ignoring me?"

"Well…. Ummm, you feel bad when they are avoiding you?" she half asked.

Nicole nodded "Yes, I thought they liked me being around but they just stopped" she continued to lie about this person being in the present and not the past.

Fiona quickly figured out who she was talking about, it almost made her roll her eyes. She still had to help and said "Well maybe h-they needed time. Maybe they wanted to come back but just felt like being on their own a think" if this was about something in the past that might have been what happened but she knew from her vague hints that it was someone in the here and now, and she knew who.

Nicole thought it over and nodded "Yes, maybe that was the problem, I will- should have done that" her little mess up made it clear it was about someone right now. It was a small pool of people to choose from and narrowing it down was easy.

"Your welcome Nicole, now I got things to do, Tails is planning to start scavenging around the city for supplies and I plan to see him off" the fox already getting up to see if he was awake yet.

"I'm sure he will appreciate your support" the lynx smiled looking a little better then when the fox first appeared.

"Talk to you later" the fox waved and walked off to Tail's room.

She must have timed it right because he was walking out just as she rounded the corner. He looked tired still, one half of his face was squished and messed up, he must have slept on his side. His tired eyes almost didn't notice the vixens approach.

"Morning sleepy head"

He made a tired smile "Mornin Fi, how long you been awake?"

"Only a few minutes. Talked with Nicole for a minute or two" she explained trying not to chuckle at his bed-fur.

"Oh alright" he rubbed some sand from his eyes with a yawn "Anyone else awake?"

"Not that I'm aware of, but who knows. Besides Shadow, Scourge and Blaze are all good at being quiet and being by themselves"

He nodded in agreement "You aren't wrong there"

"So you still gonna go and scavenge for parts?" Fiona changed subject.

"Yup, we won't have much of an arsenal without it. Eggman won't need to defeat us if we have no way of attacking"

"I don't think I've heard true-er words in awhile" the vixen agreed.

Tails began walking with Fiona. Tails still didn't seem to notice his bed fur.

"You better be careful" Fiona spoke up softly.

He smiled glad she was worried "I will Fi, you know me. Smart and fast, and I got the suit anyway" he had confidence in his mechanical and physical skills to keep him safe.

She sighed sadly "I know it's just….. well you know…. I… care about you… and-"

"And that makes you worried, know Fi" he smiled holding her hand to reassure her.

Despite what she admitted she hated to admit she was worried for him. He'd be alone out there and if he got in trouble she wouldn't be able to help.

"Remember, if anything happens I'll have my radio connected to Nicole. I can call her and she can send out Shadow and Scourge" Tails had everything planned out "I even have a route that I will give to Nicole so she'll know exactly where I should be. It's marked with segments, emergency escape routes and even places I remember that might have good chances to have salvage. I could name things and she'd know exactly where to send Shadow and Scourge" he explained his entire plan. Hopefully he didn't miss anything.

"Well… it does sound as full proof as it can be, so I will be able to worry less. But I will still worry" Fiona smiled, he was a smart fox. She almost forgot he didn't do anything without a plan.

He chuckled and said "Well atleast it's less"

Their hands broke apart as they met up with Nicole again, they still wanted their relationship to be a secret.

"Morning Nicole" Tails smiled.

"Good morning Tai-" she stopped and began giggling.

"Uhhh, what?" The kitsune asked confused "Is my shirt inside out?"

"No" she snickered "You have very bad bed fur"

"I do?" he felt around his face and felt his cheek fur squished up against his face.

Fiona finally began laughing at him as well "I…. wanted to see…. How long… it'd take for…. Someone to tell you" she spoke through her own laughter.

He gave her an annoyed face and began fussing with it to straighten it out a little.

Both girls quieted their laughing until their giggles died down. Nicole quickly asked "So Fiona said you were going to go scavenging?"

He nodded and began reaching into his pocket "Yes, I have a whole route mapped out for you to download and bunch of other information. So if I get in trouble I can give you exact directions so Scourge and Shadow can respond as fast as possible" he pulled out a small memory stick he'd found somewhere in his old workshop.

She smiled taking the memory stick and put it into her PDA quickly downloading the info to her memory.

"You better hope nothing bad is in there" Fiona smirked.

"It's clean of anything along those lines" Tails rolled his eyes.

"I don't know, you were a maturing little boy back then 'anything' could be on it" she continued to tease making him blush.

"Well I made sure it was clean" he said again.

Nicole spoke up "You sure?" she copied Fionas smirk.

"I-I…. I know I wiped it clean" Tails faltered for a moment blushing badly now.

Fiona nearly keeled over in laughter "Nope, we caught ya, you naughty fox!"

Nicole joined in the laughter as well and said "Oh wow, I didn't realize you were into that"

"WHAT!?" Tails lost his composure now believing her.

Fiona needed the table to support herself so she didn't fall over as the laughter quickly hurt her sides.

Tails just groaned, she was definetly gonna ask him about that stuff later.

Nicoles laughter died again and went back to a more professional tone of voice "Well anyway I think it's a good plan and route"

Tails just groaned "Thanks…. I'm gonna go get ready" he just wanted to get away from the girls.

Fiona was going to catch up and see him off but turned to Nicole "Was there anything actually on there?"

"Nope" the lynx chuckled.

Fiona stared at the lynx for a moment and said with a impressed smile "I must have missed you grow up a lot" she was frankly amazed that she had developed enough make a joke like that so convincingly.

The lynx modestly smiled "Yes" her smile twisted into a sort of sad smile "I remember Sally was so proud of me and how far I've come"

Fiona frowned at the mention of her old rival. Sally hadn't seemed very forgiving to her back then. She actually sucker punched her once. Of course she was trying to talk up Tails at the time, but still, a simple push would have worked.

Although now that Fiona knew the anger was temporarily from the betrayal and more from disappointment she couldn't be mad at Sally anymore.

"If it means anything I'm also proud to see you come so far" it wasn't much, and she admittedly sucked at this, but she hoped it helped.

The lynx smiled "Thank you, it is good to have you as an ally again"

"Strangely enough, despite everything going on around us, it's good to be back" the fox smiled before heading back to meet up with Tails.

The fox went to the workshop and found Tails starting to get ready. He was picking up the helmet and gave it a quick inspection. His armor looked so lonely on that shelf. It used to be filled with tons of stuff he'd made. The only things left of his old stuff was some useless wires, and scrap metal. Eggman might have taken some of his stuff when he captured Sonic, or maybe some scavengers came through and took what they could.

'No wait!' Fiona thought 'He took all his stuff to his base when he moved' she frowned again, ya….. it was definetly all gone.

Tails must have been thinking the same thing because he looked at the shelves as well. His ears folded back as he sighed.

"Sad to see your toys all gone?" Fiona asked walking over to him. The way she said it wasn't joking or mocking, she sort of missed it all too.

"Ya" he sighed again keeping his eyes along the rows of empty space "It's all back in that crater I called home"

"Hey, hey don't go and have a flashback on me now" she tried to keep him from getting despressed and thinking about his mom again.

"No I mean, it's kinda weird is all" his ears raised back up "Brought all my belongings to that place, made it my home. Now it's all gone and I'm back here wondering why I ever moved"

"We all make mistakes, look at me, I'm like a walking tutorial to mistake making" she joked.

"I know…. I'm just wondering if I'd be happier dying with all my friends instead of all this. I would have died among friends….. family"

"Please don't say stuff like that Tails, I know things have turned out bad for the world. I know…. People have died…. But if you had died out there I'd still be on square zero on my plan to kill Eggman. Shadow and Silver would still be endlessly defending that town. Blaze and Nicole would still be trapped in jail, and most importantly Sonic would be working for Eggman forever… and you and I…" she looked down, she hated the idea all of that staying the way it was.

"You've given us all a goal, even Scourge, and a chance to be heroes one more time and give this planet a chance to survive. If you died that day all hope would have been lost. These chain of events may be the harder of the two, but if we succeed it will be the better outcome"

Tails looked to her sadly "Fiona…. I'm sorry… I didn't mean to make it sound like I don't understand all that and definetly don't think I don't appreciate what's happened through all of this. Especially with you and me" he smiled warmly to her letting her know he wouldn't trade that for anything.

He cleared that up "But…. I just hate being the center of attention and being the most important thing. It's so much pressure…. I have no idea how Sonic and Sally could handle it and the responsibilities, and having all these peoples lives hinging on my words"

Tails covered his face groaning "I'm sorry Fi, it's just-!"

Fiona put her hands on his shoulder "Look at me Tails"

The fox kept his hands over his face.

"Move those hands before I move them myself" she growled.

He sighed and revealed his face to look at a frowning face.

"Tails you aren't alone here. We talked about this, we're all a team. You are not alone to make descisions. Besides, we are all following your orders of our free will. We all follow your orders because we trust you, but we know when to chip in our own ideas or question anything" Fiona sternly explained again.

"But if they die?" Tails asked barely holding back tears.

"Then we died doing what we know is right. We're all here because there is no other sensible option" Fiona explained.

"I…. Yes…. Ummm"

"Just don't think about it ok? You got important stuff to do ok?" Fiona pinched his cheeks trying something silly to make him feel better.

Tails rubbed his cheeks a little but managed a small smile.

Fiona smiled back and said "Now how about we make a deal. While you're out scavenging, you aren't in charge, I'll be in charge. It can be like that anytime you go out scavenging. You can just forget about being the leader and just get lost in your salvage and tech stuff" clearly in reality he'd always be the leader of the team but sometimes pretending was all you needed.

He thought about it "But I-"

She quickly put a finger to his lips "Ah, ah, ah. Don't talk, just get ready, get out there and get lost in the fantasy alright? I will keep everything under control while you're gone" she smiled reassuringly "And no, before you ask I won't go all power hungry psycho bitch alright?"

Tails chuckled "Oh good, I was worried for a second"

Both foxes chuckled that out and Fiona said "Now get your stuff on and be careful" she gave him a peck on the cheek then shoved his helmet into his hands.

He smiled and was already looking more confident. He put his armor on and put on a large empty pack.

"If I find something to large then we'll try to figure something out for later" he took a deep breath "Alright I'll be back"

"Better be" Fiona mumbled.

"You have something planned for me when I do?" Tails asked voice being filtered by the helmet now.

"Mayyyyybe" she smiled deviously "But you'll have to come back in one piece for that, so no taking chances got it?"

"Ya alright" he fake sighed, like being told not to take chances wasn't fun or something.

With that he walked out of the building, activated his stealth systems and just like that, he was a ghost now.

Fiona was sure he could handle himself, he'd made nearly two years by himself and had been causing trouble to any robot who got into his territory, so she was sure he could avoid being spotted.

She had other work to get to anyway. The fox walked back into the building and began searching for a hedgehog, a green one. She needed to figure out what was going on with him. He usually enjoyed Nicoles company, even she could see that. Now he was avoiding her, why?"

"I told him that if he messed with her, or hurt her he'd have me to worry about" she mumbled to herself.

She suddenly realized she had no idea where he even slept and sighed in annoyance.

Fiona searched for about half an hour before finding Scourge sitting alone deep in the basement. Chaos is had become an absolute wreck down here. If Tails had no brought the power core and been able to keep the whole building lit she'd have never been able to find him down there.

He was currently sitting against a wall arms crossed and half looking to the floor.

"What you doing down here?"

His eyes shot up to her "Could ask you the same thing"

A predictable response from him "Looking for you, now why are you down here?"

"Because I want to, why aren't you on the heels of your old squeeze?" he mocked.

"He's out scavenging and I need to talk to you about something" she crossed her arms quickly trying to avoid the subject of Tails.

"No I'm not gonna give you a quick ride for old times sake" Scourge huffed chuckling at the remark.

"Shut up asshole" she growled, the very idea disgusted her now. Her time away from Scourge had allowed her real personality to flourish again, she didn't have to convince herself she was someone else once she was away from him.

He rolled his eyes "What do you want?" he wanted her gone.

"What the hell is going on with you?"

He looked at her like she was stupid "What's going on with me, what the hell is that even supposed to mean?"

"Why are you avoiding Nicole?" she clarified.

He faltered ever so slightly, so small that only someone who had known him long enough would notice, for a split second he showed vulnerability in his eyes. It quickly disappeared.

"Because she's annoying me, I was being nice letting her hang around me at all" he growled defensively.

"Bullshit! If she annoyed you that much you'd never have let her come back at all, but you didn't. You allowed he to continue to hang out and you enjoyed her company. Trust me I know you" she sneered at him daring him to lie to her again.

He laughed "Oh so you think you know me, you should remember I like woman and is definetly not a bad looking lady. Maybe I like having something nice to look at all day" he smirked.

"No I don't think that's what it is. She seems really upset that you are avoiding her. She really liked being around you"

"Not my problem" he snorted.

Fiona snarled "Oh it is your problem. I told you that if you hurt her you'd have me to worry about. We don't need her worrying about whether you don't like her in a battle"

"She's an AI she can get over it, besides" he paused "She shouldn't be caring about someone like me"

Fiona was quiet looking at him, he was right, but it sounded like he meant more to it. He was suddenly avoiding eye contact again and lost a lot of his defensive stance. She looked at the hedgehog for a moment tried to choose her words carefully.

With a much softer tone she asked "What's going on Scourge"

He contoured to stay quiet but her change in tone made him tense up, she was on the right trail and he knew it.

When he still didn't answer she continued "Listen Scourge, I know you don't think I like you after you left me behind. To a certain extent I do still find it hard to trust you, but you have been proving me wrong so far. Now I also know I was one of the closest people to you back then and I know when something is eating away at you"

"You don't know me" he growled making her flinch back instinctively already subconsciously fearing him due to what he'd done to her in the past.

But it never came and she opened her eyes to find him facing away again. His one hand covering his face.

"Thanks for reminding me why I'm doing this" he mumbled.

She cautiously went back to her full height and chose her next move very carefully "What….. What are you doing?"

Scourges hand balled into a fist as he grit his teeth. His body tensed an he took a deep breath. Once again she thought he was about to lash out at her but very suddenly his arms went lax, his shoulders dropped and his head tilted back to face the ceiling. A loud depressed sigh escaped his throat and he slowly turned.

"I'm protecting her" his normally angry eyes were now filled with rarely seen emotion. His features soft and had lost all the hard features in his face.

"Protecting her? You've protected her a bunch of times already…. Very uncharacteristically of you might I add" she hoped the blunt comment wouldn't shut her out or provoke his anger.

"That's the point" he said a little anger coming back, he sort of hoped she'd understand what he meant by now but clearly not, he really didn't want to have to explain these feelings and motives to her.

"Scourge just explained, ok?" she encouraged seeing him get angry again.

He clearly hated hearing that and growled "Damn it" he mumbled grinding his teeth for a moment as he thought out whether he should tell her.

Finally with another depressed sigh and his face turning soft again he said "I'm protecting her from myself"

She honestly never expected him to say such a thing and for a moment had no idea how to even respond to that. Protecting her from himself? It was so selfless, he'd never carried that tone around her before.

"Protecting her from yourself?" she asked cautiously, he'd already said so much and it made her wonder if he felt he'd told too much.

He got more aggressive again "Don't you remember Fi, remember all that I did to you. Or did you do that thing where you forget to avoid the pain?"

"Oh I will never forget what you did to me and made me do" she said with quite a lot of venom in her voice "So why does she deserve it more than I did?" god that sounded a little like jealousy, but it was more of her wanting to know why he even considered doing this for her.

He bore his fangs angrily at her, his teeth began to grind against eachother once again debating heavily whether he should tell her. Was he ready to admit his feelings to someone else? He may have been terrible to her but she had also been the closest person he'd ever been to.

Fiona patiently waited, she was willing to wait for this answer, she could see he was debating hard about it. She already had a ton of reasons in her head which were narrowing down the longer he debated.

Sadly the suspense led to nothing as he huffed and walked past her "None of your business"

"What? Wow, no you don't get to walk away after all that!" she stepped in his way.

"Yes that is where I stop!" he growled threatening to push her out of the way.

"You care about her don't ya, she was nice to you and you think you'll only hurt her?" Fiona growled back.

"Out of my way" he shoved her aside avoiding talking about it.

She yelped and turned to try and stop him but in the time it took for her to recover and turn he'd ran off. She growled at this but took a deep breath to calm down and realized she got quite a bit out of that conversation anyway. It was clear Scourge cared about Nicole and was protecting her. He was afraid he'd hurt her or begin to manipulate the lynx he had to herself.

In a way she was angry at Scourge for making Nicole worried and sad but now she couldn't help but agree. He'd broken her to believe she was someone else after awhile. At first she was lying to herself to live a new life away from Tails, but it was Scourge who had whittled her down and made her actually believe that was who she was. She wouldn't want Nicole to go through that.

The fox decided to keep this quiet from even Tails and began heading through the base again trying to find a way to pass the time. Mostly she ended up thinking over what she learned.

 **I'm gonna be honest I feel like this is a good spot to stop even though I don't think anything happened. I just wanted to get some interactions going and junk like that. So I truly hope you guys like this chapter.**

 **Live long and prosper**

 **Admiralkirk**


	35. Dust and memories

**A/N Ok so just got to say Xcom 2 did not disappoint me. Although I'm still disappointed by the lack of access to mods thanks to Sony not accepting mods…. And of course because they don't want to polarize audiences they don't allow mods on the xbox one. Sucks but the game is still fun even without the long war mods. Oh and gears of war 4 came out, that is also very fun.**

 **So anyway that's what I've been doing, and I decided to catch some typing time finally. So where'd I last leave off…. I actually forgot….. Ah right here….**

Tails trekked along his pre-determined path, through the empty city. He had been able to avoid patrols pretty easily, the way he mapped out his route he minimized having to cross any robots. The few times he ever actually got close to a patrol his cloak and sneaking skills would make avoiding them a piece of cake.

Fiona had been right, it was good for him to go out here and escape the team, the responsibilities and saving of the world. His mind was able to forget it all. He had to thank Fiona for thinking of this.

It was kinda funny though, if he forgot about the fact the city was completely destroyed it felt almost like old times. Despite being part of the freedom fighters he never really got any substantial amount of funds to buy things. A lot of the time he filled his needs through scavenging. He could still remember an old junkyard he'd frequently visit to get supplies.

The owner, a fairly old guy, had quickly come to like the young fox visiting. He was happy to see a young kid using whatever he could to do amazing things. Eventually Tails even made friends with the guy. His visits became longer as he spoke to the guy sometimes.

The guy was always happy to listen to Tails' techno talk would usually ask what he was up to at the time. The guy particularly liked hearing about his plane. It took a bit but when he finally asked why he was so interested the guy told him he had once been a pilot.

The guy…. Wait what was his name…. man he had never gotten the guys name. He felt kinda rude not learning it.

Anyway the guy had explained that time had caught up to him and got too old to fly the fast fighter jets. Tails asked if he had flown less extreme planes but the guy said he liked the speed and danger. Anything slower would have been boring, surprisingly enough slowing down was he had realized he needed. After years of doing what he wanted, getting a wife, having kids his life had led him to his job at the junkyard.

At first Tails felt bad for the guy, his life had been so exciting now his life had been reduced to tending over this junkyard. With time though he knew exactly how wrong he was. He had an exciting life, he was saving the world every other week. It was exhausting and slowly draining him away, and he wasn't even out of his teens yet. The moments he could slow down had become the things he looked to the most. Sometimes even sleep was preferable to too much excitement.

Don't him wrong though he knew how important it was to keep people safe and the moments after saving the day and seeing all the people he had saved made it all worth it, but how long can you do that before your body and mind becomes drained?

So he knew exactly how the guy felt.

The fox sighed stopping in his tracks realizing something, that guy was probably dead like all the rest now.

His mind was back on the present, he looked around the now deserted city. All those people he had protected for years, those people that walked down these streets oblivious to the coming danger… to the end of the world.

He shook his head, he was falling behind his schedule, his helmet sending him a warning and suggesting he pick up the pace.

He began jogging to catch up to where he was supposed to be, not that it really mattered, he'd picked up so much supplies by now he couldn't carry anymore. He wasn't surprised, the city was on lockdown due to all the bots, who would be crazy enough to come through and scavenge this place, let alone come anywhere near it for fear of death?

He could scavenge off this city for his entire lifetime and not use it all up if he could.

The old streets kept bringing him back to the past, the old times. The days where he was happy. The days before he abandoned all his friends because he had allowed a few words make him slowly lose everything that he was.

He didn't blame Fiona for saying those words, who could have predicted he'd take them so seriously. He also knew the whole story now, it was all a way to build a wall and protect him.

The kitsune passed by an old store, the worn letters just barely reading out 'chili dogs' He managed to smile thinking about a great day he had with Sonic. They'd stopped there for lunch. Talked a bit, Sonic even sat back and listened to his techno-babble. That day was great.

Flashback…

"Hey Buddy!"

Tails turned to see his best friend, Sonic approaching "Oh hey Sonic"

He caught up with a smile "What'cha up to little buddy, probably heading to the junkyard for parts right?"

"Nah I visited yesterday I just felt like walking around a bit" the fox replied. He'd been working hard lately, though he was ok with that he liked being busy.

"Aww that's cool, hey it's about noon you wanna get some lunch? It'll be on me" Tails paid a lot for that scrap and old stuff at the junkyard so he offered to pay it all.

"Well…. I guess I forgot I was a little hungry, sure. If you're paying you choose the place" he already had a good idea where he wanted to go.

"Alright, chili dogs it is" Sonic said already on the move to the nearby place that sold good chili dogs.

Within a few minutes they were seated in a fairly empty place, Sonic had two chili dogs. Tails just had a sandwich.

"So what'cha been working on anyway?" He asked already beginning to eat.

"Oh well I got something, it's only in prototype stages but it's gonna be a super suit when it's done. Bullet proof chest plate, active cloaking tech, on board VI, the helmet will have a HUD just like our video games and so much more. Also making very adaptable incase I need to add extra features in the future. But like I said it's only in prototype stages. Just gonna make it fit for now and slowly work my way up. Find the right materials to make it as light as I can, maybe improvements to the basic plans as I go further" The little boy seemed so excited talking about it, it sounded really ambitious.

"Sounds cool, but hey just cause it's bullet proof doesn't mean you should go and take on Eggmans armies" Sonic said, he liked the idea but still advised caution.

"Oh no of course, It's gonna be light weight so I can still fly, meaning maybe only the chest and helmet will be bullet proof"

"Good, wouldn't want my little buddy getting shot" Sonic smiled.

"Ya me neither" Tails chuckled.

"Anything else going on?" Sonic continued to ask.

Tails gave him an odd look, why was he asking about this stuff. Usually he didn't listen to his techno babble but he decided to see if he was at his limit and just trying to be nice "Well I had an idea for a cool morph gun idea.

Sonic gave him a look "You we don't use guns Tails"

"No! No it's not meant to be a gun, it will be more of a utility gun. Shooting grappling hooks,, be a hack tool, shoot my gadgets if I need to, stuff like that. No dangerous bullets and stuff" he tried to explain. One day that would end up being a lie.

"Well…. It better be non lethal stuff…. Got it?" Sonic said sternly.

"Yes, I promise"

"Good" his face softened a little "Anything else"

Tails thought taking a bite of a his sandwich. He'd forgotten during all his techno talk "Oh, I've been working on this for a very long time. Still trying to find a way to get even the basic idea to work" he frowned feeling bad that he couldn't figure it out after so long. He still considered it a challenge worth beating.

"What is it, I'm sure you'll get it soon" Sonic encouraged.

"I'm trying to make EMP grenades, non lethal to mobians and pretty much anything that's alive, but will shut down electronics. The problem is making an EMP small enough to used like a grenade that doesn't go far out enough to effect your equipment but is still powerful enough to actually short out what you've thrown at" Tails explained again.

"Well, I'd like to help but you've always been the smart one. But I'm sure you'll get it buddy" he rustled his hair "But for now just chill out, you deserve it after all that work you've been doing lately"

Tails nodded, though he didn't feel like he was over working too hard. The two sat and ate for a minute until Sonic spoke again.

"Hey I know you've been working a lot but you wouldn't happen to know where Amy keeps disappearing too?"

Tail was about to take another bite until he said that "Wait Amy has been disappearing?"

"Well she comes back by the end of the day. And it's not super often. Like every so often" Sonic said rephrasing that.

"How is that weird, maybe she has a club she goes too or something?" things had been quiet for awhile, maybe she was trying to find a way to pass the time.

"Ok ya, but she's… well she's stop getting real obsessive over me too"

Tails gave him an un-amused look, he really hoped he was joking "You've wanted that for years and now that she stops you find it worth investigating?"

"What? No… it's so abrupt and tied with her going off by herself sometimes just got me worried" Sonic said.

"She's getting older Sonic, she probably finally got past her fan girl phase and is moving on. Found something distract her or entertain her. I think she's doing what's healthy" Tails really didn't see a problem. Of course he was also completely out of the social loop lately so maybe it was one of those gut feelings.

"Either way, if she's not asking for help and is happy when you do see her then I think she's fine. Remember, you got Sally and not having Amy clambering over you will ease your relationship I bet"

Sonic took in his words and nodded "Ya maybe you're right…. I'm stuck trying to be her older brother and looking out for her I guess" he chuckled.

They both agreed to let Amy do her thing and went back to lunch.

Present…

Tails found himself in that exact seat he'd sat in back then. What he'd give to have that sandwich right now.

He wished he could go back in time and appreciate those moments better. That was around the time he started disappearing more from the group and working more by himself. He looked around the old place and expected to feel dread and despair. Instead he felt some strange sense of nostalgia. When he was younger, and times were good. It also reminded him of why he was fighting this fight, if they succeeded maybe one day people could come to this place and enjoy whatever it became in the future.

That memory also made him remember Amy, she had seemed to get more mature around that time. They did figure out where she went every so often. Nobody asked, and she never told anyone. Tails had always been glad that it wasn't another Fiona situation. She still always was there when they needed her and was just as passionate about being a Freedom fighter so everyone just let her be. She never gave signs of depression, in fact after awhile she seemed to be even better than before.

He shook from his throats, took one last look around before heading back for the HQ,

About an hour walking through the city and avoiding more patrols he arrived at the designated tunnel entrance at the end of todays route. He hot a button on his wrist and after a second the door opened. He slipped inside and the door closed behind him a few seconds after.

"Alright, first trip out and I didn't get shot at or experience some kind of accident" Tails said to himself.

The fox walked down the long empty hallway until he reached a hatch like the other tunnel. He opened it up and crawled up and was back in the base.

"Well it's good to see you aren't dead"

Tails turned to see Fiona was waiting nearby with a relieved smile. He smiled back.

"Ya that's always good"

Fiona gave him a hug then walked with him back to the workshop "So you find anything good?"

"I had quite a lot to pick from, this place is basically untouched by scavengers. As long as I don't get caught I could take nearly anything" he explained opening the door to his workshop and walking inside.

Fiona followed inside and warned him "If you don't get caught"

Tails was gonna say not to worry but knew she wouldn't and just said "I'll be careful. I promise you"

His reassuring tone calmed her so she just nodded as he took the backpack off and revealed a bunch of stuff inside.

"Well time to organize" Tails smirked.

Elsewhere…

"Nicole just let me know that Tails just came back" Shadow walked into the make shift kitchen where Silver and Scourge were hanging out. When he was last there Scourge wasn't really talking, and it didn't seem to change since then.

"Oh well that's good. Maybe we can get an arsenal going again" Silver smiled.

"That's what I'm hoping as well" the Shadow nodded.

Scourge didn't comment. He actually used Shadows appearance to get away from Silver and walked off.

Shadow waited for him to disappear and asked getting to business "So have you thought of a way to talk to Blaze?"

Silver quickly looked uncomfortable and looked away "I've been thinking about it…. Just need a little more time to think"

Shadow sighed shaking his head "The longer you wait the harder it will be"

"I know, but I'm still worried. Like what if what she did was just instincts kicking in… or not…. Doing that for a long time and your body just needs it" Silver stuttered through tried to be subtle with his wording.

"That's stupid. You know who she is right. She's just as serious as I am. She rarely shows much of any kind of strong emotions. If what happened wasn't triggered by something more than simple hormones then it's not Blaze or you're lying" The mentor basically telling him it had to be real emotions.

"R-really… I mean…. If you're right then why me…. I'm not that interesting besides my powers" Silver fiddled with his hands looking away.

Shadow sighed again, annoyed at how daft his student was "If you don't think so then why has she spoken to you so much. She's spoken to you more than anyone here and has actually taken the time to get to know you. Very few people can say that about themselves. I believe the next closest person to get this close to Blaze was Marine" He remembered back then meeting the younger girl. A little annoying but had a good heart.

Silver remembered Blaze mentioning Marine. She hadn't seen her since Eggman kidnapped her. Of course they were from another dimension so Blaze could never see her again until she got her emeralds back.

"Well if…"

"No ifs, ands, or buts. You need to talk to her and figure it out soon" Shadow explained, he was getting a little annoyed that Silver was so hesitant.

"Ok… I will… just… don't we have more important things to worry about? Like… haven't you said distractions on the battlefield can cost other people lives?" By distractions he meant feelings for another and potentially abandoning missions to save them or other stuff along those lines.

"Yes I have but…." Shadows face softened "It's good to have something that you can see and feel to motivate you"

Silver looked at his mentor and knew something was up. He never softened his voice, hell he rarely, if ever frowned "Did… you have someone like that?" he asked cautiously.

Shadow snapped from his moment of weakness as he asked that question and shook his head "Forget it… just talk to her" he walked away to be alone.

It was obvious he was hiding something, But Silver knew from experience to not inquire. If he wanted to talk about it he'd have planned to talk about it before hand. His mind slowly left those ideas aside and began to really think of a way to speak to Blaze.

After half an hour he noticed she hadn't even shown her face this morning. That was strange, she always woke early and ready for the day. Besides Tails she usually woke earlier than everyone else. That worried him. He soon decided to check on her, screw making up a script, if something was wrong he wanted to help.

He walked over to room she'd been sleeping in since they arrived her and knocked "Hey Blaze, you awake?"

There was silence, that strange kind of silence where you could feel someone was there despite having no indication they were there.

"Blaze…. I just want to see if you're ok alright… just a simple answer would be ok?" He waited… still nothing.

After a few seconds he sighed and said something he really didn't mean to say aloud "I'm sorry about yesterday"

He sighed and began to walk away then the door opened "What do you mean you're sorry about yesterday, I was the one who…. got close and did weird stuff?"

Silver turned, atleast she was ok. Though he saw her face and noticed she looked very tired. Did she not sleep well?

"No I mean… how I reacted to what you did I didn't mean to…"

"What does that have to do with anything. I lost control and began touching your fur, smelling your scent and getting really close. You had a right to look so surprised and shocked?"

Silver suddenly realized that he hadn't really done anything wrong, he thought he'd scared her off by accidentally looking like he was rejecting her advance on him. The reality was she had done it all somewhat subconsciously and lost control of herself.

"So you ran off not because I looked like I was uncomfortable and wanting to you to back off?" Silver asked cautiously.

"No I left because I had invaded your personal space, got too close, did all those things and I wasn't even really the one doing it. I just lost all control after you helped me out…. I've never had that happen before" She frowned looking away and crossing her arm defensively "I can't control my powers properly and now I can't even control myself"

Silver frowned. He didn't like seeing her so depressed, and the fact she couldn't even figure out why she did it made it worse. She was afraid of herself it seemed, afraid of losing control.

"Blaze" he said softly "I know you're confused, and scared. I don't think you need to be scared. Especially of yourself. What happened yesterday wasn't a bad thing. Because… well.." he suddenly had a frog in his throat.

"Because?" she asked eyebrow raised. How could anything justify what she did. She still wasn't sure what even caused it.

"Because…. I… " Silver took in a deep breath then exhaled "Because I lie you a lot…. Like… in the way where getting that close is nice… and normal… and…." He lost all nerves now. He had said it enough to make it clear but he lost all confidence and looked to the floor.

She's a princess where she comes from, I'm just an orphan kid…. This was a mistake, why'd I open my mouth?" all manner of fears were floating through his head now.

Why was it so quiet? Did she walk off, no her feet are still there… she was probably about to smack him and yell at him for all the touching yesterday and blame it all on him.

He braced for anything but her voice said "Please look at me"

Oh, here it comes. He'd lift his head and then get slapped, well…. Better not keep her waiting.

His head slowly lifted back up to look at her but instead of anger, or resentment, or disgust he saw only soft questioning eyes. Was he not clear enough, oh did he really have to explain more depth, it was already hard enough to explain that far. He might pass out if he had to explain more.

"Silver… how long have you felt this way?" her soft voice asked, she gave away so little emotions it made him worry that Shadow was wrong about all this.

"I don't know… longer then when I actually realized it I guess" he rubbed his arm nervously forcing himself to not look away again.

"Is that why you… have spent so much time with me. Or did what you did yesterday before I…" she blushed madly realizing that her actions worked along with his feelings now "Oh… Ummm… I" she was now stuttering, she never stuttered, what was happening to her?

"Ya… pretty much… I mean, you were nice to talk to and you listened to me. Atleast to me I thought we were having a good time talking about the past… even if mine was kinda depressing" he felt like a burden explaining his depressing past when they were surrounded by this depressing world.

"What!? No, it was not depressing, it was inspiring. With all the terrible things you had to go through, being alone. Having no parents to watch over you, having no place in this world and having no real goal to head to. And mostly having to suppress your own powers yet still come out of all of it as you are"

Silver nearly began to frown until she got to the end and said he'd turned out great.

She continued "You are enthusiastic, open to new people, you're kind, you think about others and…. And…. I kinda admire that because…. I could have been more like you…. but I closed myself off" it her who now looked away trying hide her emotions again.

"You turned out so good in such a bad environment. I wasn't raised in the best of positions either, forced to learn how to use my powers as best I could. Hide away from the world because they were all afraid of me and how dangerous I could be. I had to grow up so fast so I could be the new guardian of the Sol emeralds. I never got a childhood at all, it was all taken from me. Even after all that I still couldn't control my powers entirely, everyone fear of me was true. I could hurt people at any moment against my own will. I really was a danger to all of them…. So I bottled myself up, I didn't make friends, connections… too afraid one day I might hurt them when I meant to protect them" her eyes teared up, she'd been so alone for so long, the one good thing in her life was Marine, the one person who didn't fear her. Even when she pushed the girl away for her own safety she just kept coming back… now she couldn't see her anymore. It hurt her so much to not be able to speak to her little friend anymore.

Silver listened all the way through, he could hardly stand the idea that people were afraid of Blaze. She was a good person and only wanted to protect people and do her duty of protecting the Emeralds. She had failed to do both. He could only imagine how it felt to have the two things you lived to do both fail.

But she was crying and he had to make her stop. So on pure impulse he hugged her and said "We're going to make it all right again. I promise"

Blaze accepted the hug and hugged back tight. She'd lost so much. Shed lost the emeralds, she'd failed in protecting people from their powers, she'd been beaten and jailed for two years, she'd lost her best friend. All she had left was hope she might be able to fix it all…. And Silver"

Blaze sniffed and tried to stop crying, she hated the idea of herself crying, but she knew it was healthy to let it out once in awhile.

Silver just continued to hug her. It was the first time he'd seen her truly upset, maybe the odd frown here and there, but never any form of real sadness.

"It was so hard being all alone in that prison" she suddenly said.

He couldn't imagine being alone like that for two whole years. She had failed had millions of people killed due to her losing the emeralds. It should have been enough to drive her insane. But she seemed like her normal self according to Shadow.

"I don't know what I can say to help with that… except that you made it out, you survived it and now have a chance to make things right" Silver softly said.

"How can I make millions of dead people right?" she now crying into his chest.

"I don't know…. But I know that the fact you haven't given up means something"

Blaze shuddered but he could feel her nod against his chest agreeing with him "Yes… it's just…"

"Try not to think about it for now alright, just try to calm down. I'm right here for you." Silver whispered.

"But how can I forget about it when it's the only thing I was raised to care about?" she asked. It seemed her whole life she'd been pushed to be the guardian of the sol emeralds and never anything else.

"Is there anything important…. Anything?" he really hoped it would be something like the hope she could see Marine again… wait she needed the emeralds or a way home to do that.

But he was surprised to feel her nod again and her breathing start to calm and normalize. Her hold on him didn't cease up though.

He pat and rubbed her back. Staying quiet as she slowly calmed down until she was done crying with the occasional tremor.

"Thank you Silver… I've been holding in so much stress, I just…."

"I know" Silver smiled "I know. Come on, maybe some breakfast will help"

He was about to lead her back but she stopped him and said "One more moment, if that is alright?" she sniffed and cleared the last bit of tears from her eyes.

"Sure whatever you need to do"

She smiled, there he was being super kind, just for her. He could have gotten breakfast to leave her to what she needed to but, she kinda needed him to do it.

"First off, I'd just like to apologize for getting tears on your chest fur" she found it quite soft.

"No need to be sorry"

She smiled again then said "Also thank you, you really are…. Far too kind to me" she blushed and leaned over a d kissed him in the cheek.

His own blush appeared, she just kissed him, did this mean she liked him too?

The cat blushed more looking like she had something else to say "Perhaps we can talk about… what you told me a little later. After some breakfast and I've completely calmed?"

Despite his excitement he remembered to ask "You aren't afraid…. Of losing control again?"

"No… I believe I understand why I did what I did yesterday, we'll talk about it a bit later, alright?" For now she was content with the situation right now. She'd never really felt this way. Silver liked her and it made her feel warm inside. Not the feeling of fire, but a gentle and happy warmth.

"Alright, later then" Usually Silver would have taken that statement as a dodge but she seemed to genuinely mean it. He was so nervous now, nothing was official but she just wanted to calm down and eat a little.

He led her back, both smiling a slight blushes on their face. This might be an awkward breakfast.

 **Alright so I want to apologize for such a long wait. I said this before in he last chapter but a lot of stuff recently came out that grabbed my attention and I had been doing this chapter bit by very small bit whenever I wasn't working or gaming. So I am super sorry about the long wait, but that is the newest chapter. I got what I wanted to do actually done. Hope you enjoyed**

 **Live long and prosper**

 **Admiralkirk**


	36. Renovations

**A/N Hello again. Hope you're all enjoying your lives. I've honestly been exhausted from work. Had my times slightly changed, and due to some automated systems coming in people are getting moved around and I might just lose a ton of hours, that's good and bad. Less money but more relaxation time.**

 **Ps, I'm Canadian not British**

 **Anyway enjoy.**

After their talk Silver and Blaze decided to make something for everyone. Since it wasn't too past lunch time they saw no harm in calling it that. Though the old kitchen had been ruined with age and damage.

"Maybe Tails picked up some supplies that could help us getting everything running again. I think their was plenty of natural gas to fuel the oven" Blaze thought aloud.

"Better hope so, I'm starving" Silver smiled "Let's go talk to him, see if he's willing to use his parts for it?"

The purple cat gave him and nod and they walked over to his workshop.

It felt a little selfish to be using the supplies for luxuries but it felt like they were gonna be here awhile rebuilding back their strength, one days supplies wouldn't hold them back too much considering they were in a city of near infinite scrap.

The hedgehog knocked and within a minute Tails appeared at the door. He was out of his armor wearing a dirty white shirt and pants they'd become accustom to seeing him wear.

"Hey what'cha need?" Tails asked opening the door further and leaning against the frame. Behind him Silver could Fiona still messing around with the stuff he'd collected on his work bench.

"Well Blaze and I were thinking about getting the kitchen back together, but then realized everything had degraded and had been broken. So we were hoping you'd be able to spare some time and parts to fix the kitchen up" He looked nervous while he asked.

Tails listened and took a moment to think about it running his options through his head. He had plenty of scrap, and even if he needed more there were tons of parts around the city.

"Well laying low for now might be useful. If we look like we've stood down and went into hiding Eggman might somewhat forget about us. Besides I doubt I'll be making a full arsenal anytime soon… so sure I guess I could do that. Maybe fix this whole place up along the way" The idea of fixing the whole building up and making it a home against made the fox smile.

"Alright awesome" Silver smiled and his stomach growled.

Tails just chuckled "I guess you need me to do it now?"

"Well didn't want to be rude"

"No worries, here tell ya what, unhook everything from the kitchen and uses your powers to bring them back here" the door was extra large to allow larger stuff to get inside.

"Got it, but what about the gas and electricity?" The hedgehog asked.

"I can work on that too, I'll use some extension cords going from the generator to the kitchen, as for the gas all I got to do is make sure all the pipes are still intact then turn on the gas reserves in the basement" Tails explained.

"Alright, great. Guess we'll wait a bit" Silver shrugged; guess there wouldn't be a real lunch today.

"Don't worry, as long as no complications happen, I'll get it all done for a late dinner" Tails reassured for the sad looking hedgehog.

It brightened him up and looked to Blaze "Guess we'll have to kill some time after I move everything over here" Silver shrugged.

The cat nodded back and headed back to the kitchen.

While they did that Tails explained what was going on to Fiona. She didn't seem to mind. She liked the idea of getting the place back together. Besides that it was nice to have a reason to be alone with him and do something he enjoyed with him.

Silver had already brought over most of the kitchen to the shop before Tails got to work. Everything was old and either rusting or slowly degrading. Although that didn't really stop the fox. His expert mechanical skills allowed him to slowly fix the problems with the equipment.

It was still relatively hard work and pushed his creativity quite a bit. He'd have to bypass certain things or even rewire stuff and used the unused wires to extend the length of any others that were too short.

As for parts, he was pretty ok with that. Only once or twice did he not have what he needed. Those were now on his shopping list.

Fiona helped out with handing over tools he asked for but eventually helped him out. She wanted to learn what she could. He quickly took notice and began explaining what he was doing, so she could understand.

He was ahead of his mental timer so instead of doing all the work he'd ask her to do some of the simpler stuff. He'd direct her explaining what she'd have to do. In the past she had always been resourceful and adaptable in the past so she actually picked up most of it very quickly.

"Hey you ain't half bad" Tails smiled to her.

"Thanks, I guess a bit of you rubbed off on me" she chuckled.

"Well you're helping me save a lot of time. So I wouldn't mind you helping me with other projects, assuming I think you can handle it" He said making sure she'd know he'd keep her off jobs he knew was too advanced.

"I bet having a sexy assistant is one of your fantasies right?" Fiona teased the male.

Tails sheepishly smiled and blushed "… Maybe…. But you don't got the lab coat or glasses unfortunately" he chuckled nervously.

"Eh maybe I'll find something later" she gave him a sly smile looking back at him. His face told her that he'd like that a lot.

Tails tried to not look like he was fantasizing, it wasn't working. He got back to work and soon relaxed again. Another hour and it looked like they were done.

"Alright, guess we should go find Silver so he can get the stuff back to the kitchen" Tails wiped his hands with a rag then tossed it onto the work bench.

With that Fiona gave a nod also cleaning her hands then headed out to find the young hedgehog "I'll get him"

With that she was off and jogging down the hallway looking around for the male. She'd occasionally call his name. She remembered to keep her voice down, Shadow didn't like people being too loud. Afraid that the sound would escape to the dead city and alert the eggbots to their position.

Luckily she found him quickly. He was sitting against a wall just talking to Blaze.

"Hey you two. Tails and I finished everything so start moving it all back. Be careful though some of that stuff is barely holding together" the fox explained.

Silver just nodded getting to his feet "Got it, I'll have everything back in a few minutes"

Fiona left to go tell Tails "Alright so he is going to go get it done. Don't we need to get the gas running?"

"Yes, you remembered that. That's pretty easy. There's a hose near the emergency tank, I just need to attach it the main line and we'll have gas for a good while" he was already heading for the basement.

Fiona followed having nothing else better to do. As they left Silver was already lifting stuff to take it back to the kitchen.

He realized she was following and stopped "You don't really need to follow me down here just to connect a hose"

She crossed her arms "Ya but I want to, besides you want me to go away. I thought you like having gorgeous little me around" she teased.

He stared at her for a moment and conceded "Ya you're right, come on" he chuckled. The fox continued down the stairs and made his way deep into the basement. It was kinda dark besides some dim lights spread out along the ceiling. There was tons of old boxes filled with junk. Tails had it on his to-do list to go through it all. Unfortunately despite wanting to look through the stuff he could also see most boxes were empty or purposely damaged and the contents destroyed.

He continued on hearing the footsteps of Fiona still behind him until they reached a large tank. He smiled finding the tanks gauge was still filled. It seemed Eggman hadn't messed with it like everything else. Quite lucky.

He looked around behind the tank and pulled out a tied up hose.

"I was the one who originally proposed this idea back when I was around. If the gas ever went out we'd have a tank ready to use. Although when I proposed the idea it was more for convenience than for a disaster situation. After it got approved I realized it could be used for more dire situations so I made a bigger tank that could last a long time" that explained why the tank was huge.

"I'm sure it was one of those plans that you didn't want to see used" she asked.

He simply nodded as he attached one side of the hose to the tank and slowly walked across the room with the other end of the hose until he reached pipe coming from the ceiling. It stopped just above the floor and curved away from the wall.

The fox attached the other end of the hose to the pipe and nodded with a smile "There, done" He looked to Fiona "Looks like we'll have actually coked meals for awhile"

She chuckled back "You seem so confident that our patch jobs will definitely work, and that no damage came to the pipes"

Tails fired back "Oh have you lost faith in me already?"

"Yes just a little" she smirked.

"That hurts" he pretended to be hurt clutching his chest but headed back for the stairs. Fiona followed right behind and soon the duo were back in the kitchen.

Silver was just finishing up moving everything in there. Tails then reconnected everything to the walls "Alright everyone, prepare to see magic" apparently he was really confident he had fixed everything.

So Blaze turned the gas on the oven. It seemed they had some good luck as the sound of gas started up so Blaze quickly ignited it before it spread too far into the air.

Fiona sighed and said "Don't get a big head Tails"

"Then where is my big brain gonna go?" he smirked. The comment earned him a slight smack on the back of the head "Ok I'll stop now" he chuckled revealing he was just joking.

Silver then said "Well I guess Blaze and I can get to work then. Good job you two" Blaze agreed with the male and congratulated them as well. Both walked off to go get something to make.

"Well that was a much less depressing way to spend the afternoon" Fiona smiled. She was glad they didn't spend the whole day worrying about what was going on outside and working on stuff to further their progress on saving the people of Mobius. That sounded incredibly selfish, but they'd go stir crazy with nothing to do and warm meals helped the moral.

"As much as I'd want to be working towards our big goal I can't help but agree with you on that" he smiled warmly watching her "It was also nice being able to just hang out and teach you some of my work"

She smiled back and shrugged "Well, I mean besides the dirt and sut on my hands and fur I enjoyed it more than I expected"

"Had I know you were that quick of a learner I'd have tried to include you in my projects more often"

She chuckled wanting to make a bad joke about her hand work but decided against it "I think back then I'd have declined anyway, but I guess it's a good idea to learn and contribute in more ways now a days"

"Fiona you are a valuable part of thos team you know" he frowned thinking she was selling herself short again.

She smiled warmly, god he was so caring "No, that's not what I meant. I mean it's better we all learn things to give us some options our work isn't restricted incase we suddenly have to crunch for time"

"Oh I see" he nodded "I can agree with that. Just make your you don't lose a hand. You probably noticed a long time ago when we met again after I finally let you in the base my hands were healing from cuts and burns"

She frowned but nodded remembering that "I'll make sure to do that"

"Good" he nodded sternly then paused "So how should we wait for dinner to be made?"

"Well we were organizing the scrap you brought back when Silver stopped by, that could kill some time?"

"That's a good idea" Tails said already making his way back. As the two left Silver and Blaze re-appeared and were carrying cooking supplies.

"Good news, we're making spaghetti and meatballs" Silver explaimed.

Blaze spoke afterwards "I have never tried this spaghetti and meatballs, but Silver says they are a classic combination"

Fiona nodded "Well he ain't lying, and to be honest that sounds great"

Fiona was about to keep going but Tails seemed to have something on his mind "Tails, how did you learn to cook?"

Silver shrugged but explained "I helped out around the orphanage, including with cooking. Honestly it became obvious the older I got I wasn't gonna be taken by anyone anyway" he explained, it was kinda obvious but older kids had low adoption rates "So I knew I'd have to learn to take care of myself"

Everyone frowned, but he didn't seem too depressed. He'd clearly gotten over most of his past.

"Anyway, we got to get working or people will be asleep by the time we're finished" Silver said continuing on with his cheerful attitude.

"Alright, we won't bother ya. Just let us know if there's a problem with anything, we'll try to fix it if we can" Tails explained then began walking away.

Both the cat and hedgehog nodded and quickly got to work.

"This is gonna be good, I promise" Silver said putting stuff down on the counter.

Blaze smiled remembering when they were down there. Silver was looking over what they had and kept mumbling ideas to himself. When he mumbled out spaghetti and meatballs she had asked to explain that one. After that he realized she'd never had them and got excited and decided right there that would be dinner.

"I am confident you made the right choice, and I'm sure everyone will enjoy it as well.

"Thanks, ok so we need to boil some water for the pasta. You go and do that, I'll get the meatballs ready.

With that the hedgehog got to work preparing the food while Blaze got the water ready to boil. Surprisingly she didn't do much cooking, but she didn't let Silver know that. This was easy stuff though. She filled the pan, light the gas and started to boil it. Silver then instructed her to just poor the noodles in and let them loosen up.

In no time both the pasta and meatballs were cooking.

"You are very comfortable in the kitchen" Blaze said, it came out as semi awkward compliment.

"Ya, thanks" he blushed a little getting a compliment from her always made him feel better than anyone else "Like I said I just grew up into it"

She smiled again, a little amused by his excitement "I wonder if you'd be a professional cook had things not gone so bad"

He shrugged back "I thought about it, but I'd need a lot of money to even consider learning from a school" he frowned knowing that where he grew up heavily handicapped him.

"You are resourceful, I am sure you'd have found a way"

"I'm only resourceful because Shadow taught me how to better focus and think about what I'm doing. I was far more scattered brained back then"

His humbleness made her smile "Well I bet he gave gave you a lot of confidence as well?"

"Sort of. I was outgoing when it came to just talking to people. I liked helping the other kids and caretakers when I could. I can tell you that me even thinking of telling you how I felt about you was one of the hardest things I've ever done" He blushed explaining that and his eyes shifted away from her to avoid her gaze.

Blaze was a surprised by this, how could he have been scared? He knew what was going on, she didn't. She had no idea she had feelings for him too, she ran away when she close to revealing them. Why was he scared?

"What made you so afraid to tell me?" her curious eyes watched as he slowly looked back. He looked a little puzzled actually, wasn't it obvious.

"Well I mean… everyone always told me that telling someone your feelings for them is hard. Not because it's hard to say, but because you are afraid of them not accepting them. Then to add to that they reject you then avoid you because they are now afraid of the awkwardness. It just usually goes badly when you tell someone that and they don't feel the same" he frowned looking down now.

She was about to reply but then he continued "And then I realized, I'm just some guy… and you're the guardian of the Sol emeralds and royalty. What would someone like you want with me?" he felt so pathetic talking about this.

Blaze now felt the need to apologize, like she had done something wrong, but she didn't do anything wrong. "Silver I'm sorry if my titles and status intimidated you"

"It's not your fault" he quickly shot back "Nowhere close to being your fault. I mean how can you choose or not choose to be those things? I just needed to get over my fear that's all…. And hope you felt the same…. It'd be kinda awkward if I said that and then you said no and we'd have to continue fighting together…. And living together"

She understood what he was saying and was glad he said she wasn't at fault. It lifted some weight off her mind.

She then said softly "I should be thanking you. Having someone… in this terrible time… it's comforting"

"Blaze, no thanks are needed because my thanks cancels yours out" he chuckled trying to make her smile a little "I need to thank you for even giving me a chance and well…. Being amazing I guess" chaos that sounded super sappy.

It was now Blazes turn to blush and avert eye contact for a moment, people rarely said such nice things to her. It made her feel a warmth that wasn't the fire that blazed inside her. A fire that was far more comforting and welcoming. It forced her to smile.

"Silver, you flatter me" she managed to say.

"It's not really flattery if it's true" he said seeing he was on a roll.

Blaze's blush intensified "I… well… I don't…. Thank you…. you are…. Amazing as well" her brain was everywhere now and the only word she could use to describe him was the word he used.

She looked adorable, her normal calm visage had been broken and Silver loved it. Sadly he had to turn back to the food and work on it.

It was almost a relief for Blaze, she could compose herself and get her bearings back. Silver was far too good to her.

Silver worked and was nearly done after a short amount of time, and asked her to go find everyone.

She nodded and walked off to inform the others. She knew where to find Tails and Fiona. Nicole was in the systems like she normally was when she had nothing else to do. Apparently she was working strengthening the security, recovering and rebuilding files that had been damaged and keeping general surveillance. She may not have been able to eat but leaving her out felt rude. Blaze found Shadow after some searching around. Scourge was the hardest to find. He wasn't even in the building when she started her search. He never told anyone he was leaving, but Blaze found him when she went back to the kitchen. He'd just come back and smelt food beating her back.

The cat wasn't going to question it since she felt really hungry now. She got her serving from Silver and said "It looks very good Silver. I am sure it will taste just as good"

"Thanks" he nodded.

So the group all sat down. It almost felt like a family dinner.

Fiona, Tails, Silver and Shadow all ate normally. Since Blaze had never tried this she not only had to figure out how to spin the spaghetti. It wasn't that hard and soon she actually took a bite.

After swallowing she nodded with a smile "It seems you were right, this is good"

Silver looked happy to hear her say that then looked to Scourge. He was eating properly, if a little fast. He was also curious why he and Nicole weren't speaking like they normally did, or more specifically Nicole spoke and Scourge atleast pretended to listen. He wondered what was going on.

"As always, your cooking is above par" Shadow commented.

Silver was taken from his thoughts and looked to his mentor "Thanks" he hadn't cooked much since he met Shadow, he was usually preoccupied with learning to be a hero. Although he did occasionally make something from time to time. People they used to live with and protect always enjoyed it when he managed to make their meager supplies into something good.

Silver continued to think about Nicole, she seemed…. Off.

Sadly he didn't know how to ask about it and simply let the dinner continue without any drama.

Instead his wandering eye observed everyone else. He noticed Tails and Fiona were talking, not that it was strange. The two had come a long way since the day he met the two. Tails could barely hold himself back from strangling her, and she was just partnering up with him to have a shot at revenge. Now they talked to each other like long time friends. With them not feuding anymore things went very smoothly.

He looked briefly to Blaze and Shadow and noticed a distinct amount of proper form from them both. They both sat up straight, had an air of dignity and proper form. He wasn't surprised to see Blaze like that but Shadow caught him off guard. Where'd he get those table manners?

That was strange, but once again Silver didn't voice a question. Be kinda rude and weird to ask why Shadow ate differently.

Either way he watched as dinner finished up and he got another round of compliments, except from Scourge, but he expected that.

Silver and Blaze cleaned up while everyone decided to sleep, since it was late. Nicole told Tails, like every night, that she'd be watching the cameras and making sure nobody snuck in during the night.

Silver and Blaze finished cleaning after everyone left. The two were quiet, but not an awkward silence.

Silver eventually spoke "Well it was nice to actually use today as more of a leisure day. I'm not sure about everyone else but today less doom and gloom than normal"

Blaze nodded agreeing with him "Yes, I found myself smiling a little more today"

Silver smiled hearing that, she did seem to be more composed than normal. Though he wouldn't argue with seeing her smile, he liked her smile.

"Ya I noticed" he replied chuckling.

"Why are you chuckling?" she asked him suddenly losing confidence and thinking her smile was funny or ugly. Why did she care suddenly?

"Oh no, it's just I like it when you smile" he paused blushing "You got a pretty smile"

She was relieved to hear that, even if it made her blush "Oh… well thank you, maybe I'll try a little harder to do that in the future"

"Sure" he nodded then yawned "But first I think it's time we headed to sleep"

"Oh yes, I suppose sleep would be a good idea" she nodded realizing she was tired as well.

The two walked back to their bedrooms. Though Silver stopped at Blazes door.

"Well uhh… sleep tight, I'm sure we'll be busier" they did have a tyrant to defeat after all.

"I will try"

He nodded and turned to head for his own room but Blaze stopped him.

"What's up?" he asked partially turning back to her feeling her grab his wrist.

She looked away then back at him, then said "I just wanted to give you something… before you went to sleep?"

"Oh? Really, what is it?" he fully turned back curious what this gift might be.

Her blush came back as she nervously got ready to do what she wanted to do. Why was it so hard?

She leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek, her blush got hotter but she forcibly kept her composure and said "Good night" before reaching for the door heading inside. Only after she went through the door and closed it did she release the breath she'd been holding.

On the other side Silver stood completely surprised. His frozen state quickly vanished as he smiled Oh he'd sleep good tonight.

 **OK, that's the end of chapter 36. This was super hard to write for some reason, that is why it took so long. I think I'm losing my inspiration and I'm somewhat stalled on ideas to get me to where I wanna be next. Once again I apologize for the long gap, I had a week of stress cause of work. I honestly thought I might lose my job because someone else messed up. Not to mention I just started gaming really hard lately, so I apologize.**

 **Anyway despite all that I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I'll do my best to get the next one out.**

 **Live long and prosper**

 **Admiralkirk**


	37. Pain

**A/N So this is chapter 37. Once again sorry for being slow. I've been mentally drained. Work has been pissing me off lately…. Like one minor one is I ordered a work uniform over a year ago and never got it so I used spares. During the summer rush we had more temps in the building so more spares were taken. I'm kinda small framed so mediums and larges usually were gone for my night shifts. So one night I took a extra large and it got caught in a roller(a small one, so small I was able to resist it and just stand there) Anyway it finally got my supervisors to actually really order me clothes. And after over a year of having no personal clothes for work I get them and the name is wrong…. Not kirk…. Kink…. Fml. Ya so that's a little snippit of my life for ya.**

 **Anyway enjoy the chapter, to anyone that's confused this chapter has skipped ahead a bit.**

It had been a month, a whole month of hiding, and gaining strength. A month of Tails collecting scrap building up his supplies, and finding what he needed.

The fox worked everyday slowly restoring what he could, slowly building back his workshop to what it had once been. He'd found so much equipment around the dead city. It wasn't hard, he could look around for years and still not be done with it all. He had almost all the equipment he had back in the day before he moved out.

Fiona of course helped where she could. She even tried to learn how to do some of the specialized work. She figured that anything could help Tails out would benefit the team. She liked welding so Tails had her do that stuff more.

Other than wanting to help out she also made it her goal to make sure Tails didn't overwork himself. That was something she frequently kept an eye out for, the last thing she wanted was for him to drop back into working so much that he didn't get any sleep, or even talk to people. Sure it annoyed him occasionally when he felt he had to do something important, and he since he was still working on his anger issues he had snapped at her once or twice…

"Tails you need to get to sleep, you're over working yourself again" Fiona looked tired as well trying to sty up with the male.

"Not right now I'm almost done" he said fairly calmly.

"I'm not letting you work yourself to exhaustion. Please just go to bed" she almost was begging him because she wanted to sleep as well.

"Just go to sleep… I'll be in bed in a few minutes" he was clearly trying to dodge out of being told to stop.

"We both know that's a lie" she frowned calling him out.

"I don't care!" he suddenly yelled.

… but he'd later apologize and thank her for looking out for him.

Fiona gave up on trying to convince Tails to sleep. He wasn't budging and it wasn't worth getting him too angry about it. Besides she needed to think about her own sleep.

She reached her door opening the door quickly falling into bed.

A few minutes later just as she was falling asleep the door opened and she heard Tails whisper "You still awake?"

The female fox shifted in her sleep and said softly "Ya"

He walked over to the bed and kneeled down next to it and with a small sigh said "I'm sorry for yelling"

"It's ok, I know you want to make things right"

"Doesn't give me the right to yell at you for just looking out for me" his voice had the distinct sound of guilt on it.

"We're all stressed out. You apologized, so it's ok. Just promise you'll get some sleep" she was already slipping into sleep mid-conversation.

"Sure" he nodded before giving her a kiss and walking out quietly closing the door.

She didn't know if he actually did get a decent amount of sleep that night.

Outside of the shop Fiona kept an eye on everyone else too. She knew that staying in the same building for so long with the same people would slowly build tension. It made her begin to feel like a mom. The idea always made her feel old.

Shadow wasn't usually an issue, he kept to himself more and more. Partially because he was always watching out for trouble. He'd unofficially become the look out of the team. He was used to solitude and could stay silent and alone longer than anyone else.

Shadow was the one to suggest they find a way to train to keep their skills sharp, but a lack of open space in the HQ, or safe places outside made that an impossible idea. Unfortunate, everyone liked the idea.

Nicole kept at her job of security, the secondary guard next to Shadow. She monitored activity in the city and kept movement patterns logged and was always vigilant for odd activity. Luckily for all of them it seemed they were entirely undetected inside the city. It seemed hiding in plain sight was working out. That didn't stop Tails from adding traps and security systems when he could.

Silver and Blaze mostly did what they could. They also kept an eye out for trouble but mostly spent a lot of their free time with eachother. Silver was always the guy to call when something heavy had to be lifted so helped out Tails fairly often. He also became the team cook. Blaze helped him out. Besides that the couple kept the HQ clean and generally kept everything organized. Blaze personally kept track of everything, all their supplies, weapons, schedules and rations.

Scourge slowly distanced himself from everyone more and more. People barely even saw him now., and when he was around it was a short amount of time or he was asleep. With everyone working hard and doing something besides him and the fact they all had to live with eachother it start causing some adversity.

Before the month was over it was clear Shadow hated that Scourge was contributing almost nothing and taking up supplies and space. Blaze shared this view, especially since she kept track of supplies, so she knew exactly how much he consumed for almost no work.

That's what everyone slowly started feeling, but Fiona saw something else. Her watchful eye over everyone made her recognize another problem, one she'd already confronted once before.

Nicole, she used to be with Scourge all the time. Besides tending to him and keeping him calm it also kept Scourge under the radar. Now there was a rift in between. Had she caused it when she confronted Scourge about it?

That was a problem that could start effecting things, she needed to know where Scourge was. He was unpredictable and if this keeps up one day they might eggbots on their doorstep because nobody could keep a leash on the green idiot.

But with a month passed things could have been a lot worse. They were still hidden, and as long as that kept up they'd be fine.

For now maybe Fiona could try and get Nicole to talk about her problem with Scourge.

Tails had decided to let Fiona go and do other stuff while he finished up a few things. She decided to use this time to talk to Nicole.

The fox walked up to the main computer and sat in the chair "Hey Nicole, what's going on?"

The PDA that held the Ai was currently hooked up to the main computer, the small projector activated and soon the lynx was standing next to her. Her straight posture and kind smile present like always.

"Things are going well. I haven't spotted any abnormal troop movements, and things seem to be normal" she briefly explained.

Fiona nodded with a smile "Good to hear"

Fiona looked over all the screens and asked "Know where everyone is?"

Nicole paused for a moment then said "You were just with Tails and he has stayed where he was. Silver is taking a nap getting ready for his turn on watch. Shadow is on watch right now, Blaze is reading a book in her room" Nicole stopped but she was obviously missing someone.

"What about Scourge?" she kept her tone more suspicious like she was worried where he was or had run off.

"Well…" she frowned looking away "I…. I…don't know… he usually disappears and I even I can't find him. I fear he leaves the HQ entirely" Nicole averted her eyes more knowing that she'd most likely get yelled at for letting Scourge leave without anyone knowing.

"What!?" Fiona straightened up in the seat "He leaves and you don't tell anyone. What are you thinking Nicole?" Fiona wasn't angry, she was more concerned at the strange loss of logic from the lynx.

She covered her face with her hands "I don't know…. I… I was just afraid you'd all get angry at him" she wasn't crying she was just… hiding.

"Of course we'd be angry Nicole. He's leaving without us knowing. He's also the most aggressive of us all, what if he's blowing our cover right now!? Do you realize what that could mean?"

"I'm sorry I, but I wanted to speak to him about it but he keeps avoiding me and everyone else or sleeping" he ears curled back "He hasn't messed up yet, we haven't been attacked yet, so he must be doing something right….. right?"

"That doesn't matter Nicole. You know what Tails said, nobody goes out alone besides Tails since he had his suit" Fiona said slowly getting more and more angry.

The lynx had nothing left to say and looked to the floor. She felt stupid, she knew that it was dangerous and all the rules, but she still let him go.

Fiona sat back thinking, there was no way she'd find the Moebian now, and the was no way she could keep up with him if she tried to follow him tomorrow. Tails had enough to worry about too. She opened her eyes getting an idea and got up.

Before she left though she turned to tell Nicole "Don't speak of this to anyone. We didn't talk about this, got it?"

The lynx sadly nodded retreating back into her PDA.

The vixen nodded and walked through the halls trying to find someone in particular. Someone fast enough and subtle enough to follow Scourge without him noticing.

Obviously she meant to find Shadow, and luckily for her she knew where he was. He was near the end of his look out shift so she went to the roof.

Being on the roof sounded like a bad idea. Nicole had logged quite a few aerial patrols, but the top of the building had cover and the shadows kept them concealed enough. It also helped that most airborne patrols either stayed relatively away from the HQ or circled the city itself. In fact most of the patrols after Nicole had done some analyzing seemed to be specifically to keep people out and not to search for people inside. Tails guessed that idea was to avoid anyone getting inside and there'd be no need for patrols for the inner part of the cities. It was one of the reasons why Tails could move around the city with such ease.

So like always she found Shadow hiding in… a shadow overlooking the city.

He easily heard her approach and turned his head. His ruby eyes looking to her with his normal stare.

"Anything happen?" he asked, usually people didn't bother him up here.

"Nothing at this very moment but I got talking to Nicole and she told me something…. Worrying" she entered the shadow as well standing beside him.

His posture went rigid as he asked "What about it is worrying?"

"Nicole told me that Scourge has been sneaking out everyday, that's why we never see him" she would have said more after letting the news set in but Shadow quickly spoke back.

"He's what!?" he growled "He's leaving without anyone knowing?... And Nicole has been quiet? How long has this been going on?"

The fox wasn't surprised by the outburst and said "Pretty much since we got here I assume"

"That bastard, I knew we couldn't trust him. He's going to get us all killed, what's he doing?" his resentment towards the Moebian had been festering all month and now he had a reason to be angry with him.

"Nicole doesn't know, he just leaves and doesn't return until much later, but that's why I went to get you. You're fast and quiet, maybe you could follow him?"

"I can do that" he nodded already wanting to get started.

"Unfortunately you'll have to wait for tomorrow. He's already left. And wake up early, he wakes up early compared to us" Fiona explained.

"Got it" he nodded again, although he hated that he'd have to wait over something so important.

Moments later the door to the roof opened again to reveal Silver. It was his shift on look out but he clearly was tired from just waking up.

"Hey" he groaned "Keeping Shadow company?"

"Yup, just until it was your turn" Fiona smiled. She wasn't gonna let anyone else know about what Scourge was doing. Not even Tails, he had enough on his mind already.

"Well I'm here so you two can go back inside" Silver smiled back.

Both Fiona and Shadow nodded and walked back inside. They had a plan, all they had to do was wait until morning.

Luckily it was somewhat close to the end of the day, mostly only time for dinner. Since Silver was on guard duty that meant no cooked meal, so Fiona got something for her and Tails to eat. She was pretty sure he skipped lunch so wasn't gonna let him say no to dinner.

She walked into the workshop and found the fox as she left him. He was doing some metal work so she approached cautiously.

"Brought you some dinner" she said a feet away.

"Oh?" he turned "Oh man I must have forgotten how hungry I was, thanks" he quickly shed his hands of his work gloves and took the plate. Like always he was a bit of a mess by the end of the day. Once again his younger self had thought ahead and had created a water system that would purify itself so they had essentially unlimited water. This meant they had showers which helped them keep clean.

"No worries, you know I'm looking out for ya" she smiled already taking a bite.

He frowned hearing that "You don't have to, we got other things to worry about you know?"

"Yes we do, and that's why I'm working hard to keeo you in good health and keep your mind at ease" she explained "While you work I keep and eye on everyone, making sure everyone gets along. All so you can focus on work. We all got a job and mine is to keep the peace, and unofficially keep you in good shape" She mostly did the second job because she cared about him so much.

He managed to smile "I just hope it's not wearing on you then"

"Nah, it's been fairly good outside a few minor dissagreements" she shrugged back, although as of today that was a lie.

"I know I haven't been the nicest all the time. You're just trying to help and I've snapped at ya, for that I'm sorry" Tails looked down apologizing.

His apology was nice but she needed no apology "It's ok Tails, I know you're still working out some things. I'm patient. Trust me, little fits of anger are ok, especially since you've apologized after anyway"

"Thank you Fi…. Sometimes I wonder how you were able to care for me like you do after everything I said and did when we met up again. I was actually trying to kill you… it's just hard to believe you can look past that is all" The male felt bad for that still.

Fiona just smiled and wrapped an arm over his shoulder "To be honest I thought it would be impossible to even speak with you again after our fight, but revenge kept me going. Then when I finally got in your base I saw bits of the real you, so I worked hard get more and more of it out. It nearly got me hurt once or twice, but I think it's working, right?"

"Yes, I think it is" he managed a smile.

"Good, now eat. We got a long road ahead of us" she nudged him slightly getting back to her food. He did as she said and soon the two began working again. It was only for a short time though, they both went to sleep afterwards. Tails didn't argue tonight, deciding tonight sleep was better than work.

Shadow had been asleep before anyone wanting to rest up for his early mission. Soon he'd be following Scourge and find out what he's been up to.

Luckily for him sleep came quickly, as did morning. The hedgehog woke up taking no time to fully wake up. He couldn't waste time incase Scourge ran off too fast.

So the dark hedgehog found a spot near the entrance to the tunnels. He pretended to fall asleep on a nearby chair since there was no reliable hiding spot.

Five minutes after he sat down he heard someone making their way to the room. He'd have opened his eyes to see who it was, but he couldn't risk being spotted.

His patience paid off as he heard the hatch to enter the tunnels open up. It had to be Scourge. The footfalls were a little too loud compared to Tails' sound suppressing souls.

The hatch closed allowing him to open his eyes and hop to the hatch. Scourge apparently didn't have any suspicion of him. There was no way he could open the hatch without alerting the other hedgehog so went to the main computer.

Before he even sat in the chair Nicole appeared next to him "Good morning Shadow, how may I help you?" it was a courtesy but her tone told him she already knew.

"Which way is Scourge heading" he asked.

The screens changed to a map of the tunnels. The three northern entrances lit up showing the three possible routes he could exit at.

"He is still inside the tunnels about to reach the split. He seems to be at a jogging pace for now" she explained. Her expression looked guilty. Luckily for her Shadow didn't have time for that.

He got up from the seat knowing he could beat Scourge to the exits if he ran fast. It was a little bit of a risk but he left the building and ran to the north. In a matter of seconds he was at a vantage point to see where all the tunnels exited. He really hoped he had made it in time. No dust kicked up from him running off fast so he was sure he made it.

Almost immediately after he thought that he saw a green speck walking out from behind a hill.

There he was. Shadow smirked, the idea of kicking his ass was tempting as hell. Sadly even though he would have loved to, he had to know if Scourge was out working behind their backs, causing trouble and attracting attention or simply trying to just stay away from everyone.

The green hedgehog blasted off into the wasteland. Shadow quickly chased after him and began his chase.

He followed for ten minutes, which translated to quite a bit of distance. The further they went the more worried Shadow got over what was happening. Was he out here meeting with Eggman?

Another minute and Scourge started to slow, so Shadow did as well. Shadow was successfully able to keep himself from being spotted. Scourge stopped and hid in a ditch.

"What's he waiting for?" Shadow mumbled to himself. He'd found his own ditch a little bit away so he could spy on the hedgehog.

The temptation to go and kick his ass got harder and harder to resist. He growled lightly knowing he still couldn't. He'd blow his cover incase the bastard was waiting for someone. H had no choice but to wait.

So he waited for a few minutes, which turned into two hours.

By then Shadow was more than a little confused. If he had been waiting for someone they'd have shown up already, so why was he out here? Was it really to escape and get away from everyone?

Maybe he was out here just trying to keep his mind clear. It was almost enough for Shadow to give up and put a little trust into him, but no he wasn't gonna let him off the hook until he went back and nothing strange happened.

Another half an hour and neither moved both clearly showing that their patience wasn't gonna end anytime soon.

Shadow had been staring at Scourge almost the entire time. When he wasn't he was hiding from his vision. The deafening silence was disturbed by metal hitting the floor.

Both pairs of eyes snapped to the sound. A patrol of eggbots was passing by. Not a very big group, about eight of them.

Shadow ducked more into his cover to avoid detection, but at the edge of his vision he could see Scourge was getting ready to pounce out and attack.

"Don't do it idiot" he said quietly, he'd never have heard him maybe he'd figure out not to attack either.

Sadly that wasn't the case and Scourge was nearly ready to attack. Seeing no other option to avoid detection Shadow pounced from his own ditch and sprinted to Scourges hole.

Just before Scourge was about o make his attack Shadow tackled him back into the ditch covering his mouth as they thud onto the ground.

Scourge clearly wasn't pleased by that and fought back before realizing who it even was who took him down. When he did he slowly stopped struggling and glared angry daggers at the other hedgehog. He got some pretty angry eyes back I return.

His hand didn't move from his mouth, but focused on whether the footsteps were coming closer to them. If they'd seen him they could be in a lot of trouble.

While the footsteps did get louder they never broke stride, no irregular foot patterns, that was good. They seemed to be getting further too. Shadow let out a small sigh of relief before glaring back at Scourge again. He wasn't getting off him yet. Not until the eggbots were completely gone.

He waited another seconds after the silence began before lifting off his hand. It went straight to the collar of Scourges jacket though, right beside the other one. His grip so tight and full of pent up anger he threatened to rip the jacket.

"What the hell are you doing out here!?" he finally growled pinning him to the ground.

Instead of answering the green hedgehog flipped the two over so he was on top "None of your fucking business!" He prepared to punch the mobian.

Shadows quick reflexes kicked in kicking him off. Before Scourge even hit the ground he was back to his feet. If Scourge wanted to fight he'd get one.

Scourge back rolled out of his fall and growled also having no problem with a fight.

Scourge made the first move dashing towards Shadow while picking up some dust along the way. He went in for a punch. Shadow went to the block and counter but the punch stopped before it reached him. Scourges fist opened up spraying the dust into his face.

With the dust in his face Shadow flailed around fighting to see properly again. Scourge took advantage to get in close and landed a left and a right before tackling his opponent. As soon as they landed he threw a few punches into Shadow.

After three hits Shadow managed to catch Scourge's punch then retaliated with his own fist forcing him off from the impact of the blow.

Scourge gripped his jaw for a moment before turning to face Shadow only to look straight into a foot heading for his face.

"Argh!... Gonna wish you hadn't done that" he growled.

Shadow wasn't one for talking in a fight and didn't respond wanting to keep up his attack.

He tried to barrage Scourge with punches, but he was quick, just like his opponent dodging every single strike.

Scourge saw an opening among the blur of punches giving him a swift uppercut. Before the hedgehog could make the small fall for his feet to reach the floor Scourge punched again right into the stomach. It completely knocked the air from his lungs and forced him backwards.

He was off balance and trying to catch his breath, Scourge had the upper hand. Without pause he took it shoulder checking Shadow with his extra speed. The dark hedgehog fell flat on his back still trying to suck in air.

Before he could get the air needed a heavy stomp smashed onto his chest. Scourge wasn't gonna let him breath, he knew if he could keep Shadow stunned then he had a chance of winning. At any moment he could decide to use his chaos powers and beat him with ease. He had only one guess to why he wasn't using them already and that was his fear that Eggman had a way to track chaos disturbances.

So he swiftly kicked Shadow in the head. The blow dazed the other hedgehog no gripping the side of his head. He made a loud growl in pain rolling to his side.

Scourge smirked over the other male. He was standing over Shadow the hedgehog, he'd kicked his ass with relatively no harm to himself. All he had to do was seal the deal.

He raised his leg preparing to stomp down on the male. With swift aggression he slammed his foot down.

Instead of fur and bone his foot met dirt and ash. He registered a flash under his foot and he could already tell what was about to happen.

"Shit"

A sudden strike hit him right in the back of the head, a flash appeared in front of him and a strike smashed into his chin full force. The first strike sending his head forward only making the hit even worse.

His vision was now fuzzy, he was off balance and he'd pissed off Shadow. He wasn't going to win.

Unfortunately for him Shadow was pissed and he could see a red glow in his vision.

Shadow charged a chaos punch to strike him down for good. In one massive strike he struck Scourge in the chest. The chaos energy creating electrical shocks that arced in different directions as his fist impacted the green hedgehog.

The force of the hit caused him to get shot back and slam into the side of the ditch.

Scourge was out cold, few could take that and keep standing, even when in fully healthy condition.

"You fucking idiot" Shadow growled. He was actually thinking about how lucky he was to make all that happen. He really had almost lost. The teleport he nearly timed wrong, the punch's almost missed their marks due to his dazed state and he almost wasn't able to summon his powers for his punch because he was so dazed and confused.

In using his powers he realized he needed to get moving. If Eggman did have a large scale way to track chaos disturbances then he had to get away from the area.

After his investigation it didn't seem like Scourge was working with Eggman, that was just barely enough for him to heft the unconscious hedgehog on his shoulder. After the fight he hurt bad, he was still struggling to breath a little.

"Dumb bastard" he cursed again. He growled hefting the hedgehog onto his shoulder. His legs nearly gave out from the extra weight because he was so weak, but he managed to hold him up.

With shaky legs and still somewhat blurred vision, that was slowly clearing, he began his trek to get out of the area. First he'd have to get out of the small hole they were in. That wasn't too hard. He ignored the pain and pushed Scourges limp body out of the small trench then crawled out for himself.

He got the hedgehog back onto his shoulder and started heading in a random direction. He couldn't head back to HQ, if he was spotted and they saw him walking in that direction they'd eventually figure where the path would lead him and check it out.

So for now, until he was sure he wasn't being followed and also had the strength to run fast again. He was essentially on his own carrying double his own weight. To make it harder it was Scourge, if it had been anyone else on the team he'd happily carry as far as his body could…. Of course they wouldn't be unconscious either.

He eventually looked back found his theory was correct. There was a way for Eggman to track the use of chaos. Back where he'd started the very same patrol that had passed by was now searching the general area. He was glad he got moving quickly. Even though there was a pretty good distance between them it meant nothing when the land was near flat, featureless and empty.

His luck must have been really good that day because they hadn't spotted him yet, and he was able to get behind a small hill before they saw him. He might be here awhile.

He once again looked at Scourge and mumbled another insult at him. Atleast he could nurse his wounds and rest up.

So that's what he did, he rested on that small hill occasionally looking around for trouble. The eggbots were spreading out with time so maybe he could find an opening and drag Scourges ass out of here. It'd be easier if he were awake. He sighed, he wouldn't have stopped had he not knocked him out.

He looked around again, he could see two robots slowly walking somewhat towards them. They were spreading out to his left and right. They'd pass to his left and right, so maybe they'd see him. He couldn't risk that.

Thinking fast found a small rock and peaked over the small hill. This would require some really good timing and some luck. He saw a better hill to hide behind to his right so knew he'd have to throw to his left. He couldn't waste any time, it was a pretty far distance to carry someone to.

Since he had no time to waste once he threw the rock he got Scourge back on his shoulder. He threw the rock far to his left. As soon as he heard a thud of it hitting the ground he started heading right as fast as his weakened body could take him. The rest helped him to move a little faster. He didn't even care to look and see if his distraction was occupying the robots or not. Looking back meant slowing down.

Half way there, his legs burned and protested for him to slow, his brain forced his legs to be quiet. Their temporary pain meant nothing compared to being gunned down.

He reached the hill falling to his knees sliding Scourge off his shoulder. His legs were exhausted. More importantly his bad leg screamed in pain. The pain was excruciating. The only thing keeping him quiet from cursing a storm was the threat of death.

He had to ignore the pain. He grit his teeth and went to peak over the small hill. It seemed it worked out, they hadn't seen him and would pass by without spotting them. He sighed realizing this and went to attend to his leg again.

It hurt so bad, he'd forgotten his pain meds when he got up. He growled lightly as the pain throbbed with every heartbeat.

The eggbots were long gone now. The adrenaline of nearly being caught had long passed, but the pain in his leg seemed to be numbing down. Now he just needed to wait for Scourge to wake up.

He waited for about twenty minutes right before the green hedgehog began to stir.

Shadow watched as the hedgehog looked around confused looking like he was waking up from a really long sleep.

"Finally awake?" Shadow said, the last bit of pain subsiding.

"What?... Huh?" Scourge looked around aimlessly trying to find the voice having no idea what happened for the moment.

"Hey you ok?" Shadow asked showing a little compassion.

Scourge didn't answer with anything coherent. Still rolling around a bit.

"Come on, I know you're gonna be fine" he sighed.

"vvvvmmmm… Fuck you" he finally was able to say slowly remembering how he'd gone to sleep.

"Glad to see you're the same as before" he smirked wathing as the other male slowly started getting his bearings and began to sat up.

Shadow asked "You alright, I hit ya pretty hard?"

He groaned finally in a sitting position "Surprisingly enough, I've had worse" he covered a lump on his head that Shadows last punch caused.

"Why'd you attack me?" Shadow quickly got to work to see if he was going to leave Scourge here or go back with him.

"Because you can just fuck right off and leave me alone" he said deciding to stay quiet still.

"Bad answer, this is me deciding if you can come back to HQ" he reminded him of that.

After he said that he stared at the green hedgehog, and Scourge looked off into the distance.

He waited for about a minute before deciding to speak again, but Scourge cut him off "I was blowing off steam…. Getting away from stuff" he mumbled.

"You're endangering everyone back at HQ with these stunts. You're attacking eggbots not thinking about how you could be followed back. If you haven't noticed, that HQ is the last place we have that can support what we need to accomplish"

"I've been careful… I guess you only know that I've been sneaking out. Ever wonder why I'm gone all day? I fight a group or two then spend all day running around wearing myself out making it hard for anyone to track me" he surprisingly had a plan and it seemed to be keeping their new home secret. Shadow had to give him a little slack for that.

Shadow took a minute to choose his words wisely "As much as I appreciate you going to such lengths to keep our location safe I'd rather you not do this at all" he knew Scourge wasn't trying to get anyone hurt so he tried to be nice.

"I can do what I want"

"No you can't, not when it involves the lives of six other people" Shadow growled. In fact he was positive if they all died everyone else would die eventually.

Scourge went quiet again, he wasn't being as much of an asshole as normal for some reason.

"So what are you avoiding?" he asked after a short pause.

Scourge sighed clearly debating whether or not he wanted to tell him. He crossed his arms refusing to answer.

Even though Shadow didn't seem to noticeably care about everyone problems he actually had been quite observant. He wanted to win fight, he knew he couldn't do that if people were fighting eachother. He realized he'd been a little hypocritical in that regard towards the male next to him.

So he knew who he was avoiding, he;; he'd been doing it all month. Nicole hadn't been herself either. It was obvious something happened.

"Just talk to her" was all Shadow mustered up to say. Anymore and he felt he'd cross territory Scourge didn't want to cross.

Once again Scourge didn't answer, but he didn't protest either. He continued to avoid Shadows gaze staring at the horizon.

"So are we good or not?" Scourge growled.

"Not until you promise to stop, and try to help out around the HQ" His simple demand was all he'd wanted from the Moebian for awhile now.

"And why should I?" Scourge rebelliously asked back looking at him again.

"Because we are the only people on this planet, hell maybe in several universes that want you around. We're your only friends right now" sounded harsh but was probably true.

Scourge looked away again, he was right. Everyone back on Moebius had turned on him, there was no point in going back. All of Mobius knew his name as a bad guy so he definetly wasn't gonna be accepted by any settlement. How Fiona made it was beyond him. He vaguely remembered her explaining it at some point, but he wasn't paying attention.

"So either you play by our rules or you get the hell out and fend for yourself. I'd rather that didn't happen. We need all the help we can get"

Shadow waited for answer, he knew Scourge would have to answer at some point. He could wait, he was still recovering and would need a little more time before he could travel back to HQ.

Scourge thought, and thought, his options were basically nothing. So he had to agree "Fine…. Fine" he mumbled conceding. He didn't like being told he couldn't break stuff, but he wasn't boss anymore. As much as that hurt his pride, he had nowhere to go. Shadow was one hundred percent right. With no warp ring he couldn't even visit other universes. He was stuck here.

"Good" Shadow nodded happy to see Scourge was cooperating. Now we better get moving incase another patrol arrives"

"Ya… whatever" his voice had lost almost all of his signature style. The crushing realization that his only friends were his former enemies made him lose himself a little. He'd be fine, but he wasn't inn his universe… nobody back home was his friend. He strangely felt very alone despite having people he could go to and be around, but only felt like they just barely tolerated him because he was another person they could use. He was just a soldier to them.

He silently got up with Shadow and they began going back. Shadow hid his pain well. He couldn't let people know that he was having problems. That his eg was becoming a problem. They'd hold him back, and right now anything but your best made you a detriment. Atleast in his point of view.

The run back was slower, no urgency to get back, Shadow was able to keep this pace without hurting himself badly. Once he got home he could relax and fully recover.

Since they ran slower it took about twice the time to get back then it had taken to get to their destination. They arrived at a tunnel entrance, looked around for any hostiles then slipped inside.

On the way down the hall Shadow recommended Scourge go and rest off the fight. He wasn't going to hold the fight again Scourge. They both had pent up stress, if anything the fight did more long lasting good than short term damage.

Shadow went to Fiona pulled her aside from some work she was doing and explained what happened. Although left some parts out for privacy's sake. He didn't mention Scourge dropping his walls for a moment and also avoided talking about how the fight hurt him more than it should have. He especially didn't mention his leg.

"So he was just blowing off steam? And he actually thought to spends hours travelling around to avoid being followed?" Fiona asked "Alright, as long as he promised to stop I won't mention it to Tails. If he asks why you guys are hurt I'll just say you went out and did a quick sparring match to let off some steam. I'm sure he'd believe that. I'll even tell him you were careful coming home"

"Good idea, and don't bother Scourge for awhile" Shadow advised.

"Oh I know, I learned to avoid him when his pride was damaged a long time ago" she smiled, though it was laced with some depression as she thought about those days again.

Elsewhere Scourge entered his room and sighed. His head was aching badly and part of his body were very sore, and his ears were ringing slightly. He stripped himself of his jacket, with great effort and groaned as it finally came off. He tossed it onto the bed and sighed again.

All his movement and effort trying to get the jacket off made him oblivious to the door opening.

"Oh my! Scourge, what happened?" Nicoles voice said, the door closed just after. She'd hoped Shadow wouldn't hurt him that much.

He sighed, she just had to come in, just had to come in right as he stripped himself of his jacket.

"Nothing" he growled wanting her gone. He wanted to be alone.

"No, those bruises and… those scars are new" he could have sworn her heard her choke on her words at the end.

"So what?" he continued to face away. The scars came from some reckless choices he'd made over the last month destroying eggbots. He got angry once or twice and… paid for it.

"Because I worry about you. I don't want to see you hurt!" she said raising her voice suddenly. Why didn't he get that, he cared about him and seeing him hurt made her… scared.

"You don't care" he mumbled, still under the belief he was just a soldier, a weapon to all these people to help accomplish a goal.

He couldn't see it but a sudden amount of anger filled up her electronic eyes "Do ot tell me how I feel, you do not know how I feel. And… and.." her anger mixed with sadness "And I bet you don't even care how I feel!"

Something exploded in the hedgehogs mind he turned pointing an accusing finger at her, but the face he met stopped him dead in his tracks. Her face was full of tears staining her fur. She wasn't even looking at him. After her accusing statement she broke. She was trying to stop, but she simply couldn't.

"…Nikki?"

She continued to cry but made no move. Her ears dropped down so far it almost looked like they fall off her head. Her normally happy or inquisitive eyes were now filled with a mix of fear, sadness and emptiness. Her arms wrapped around herself in a futile effort to comfort herself, and despite her long dress he could see her legs were shaking. It took him a minute to notice her PDA was now lying on the floor projecting up at her.

Scourge stood speechless, he couldn't bring himself to move and do anything. Nicole, one of the most positive, happy and full of life people he'd ever met had just lost all of her composure and completely broke down…. Because of him…

"Nikki… I… just…" he didn't know what to do, he froze.

The longer he stared at her the more he knew he needed to help, but he didn't know how to help. All he could do was stand there with his mind spinning around wasting time.

So instead he just let go of thinking and did whatever his body told him. He reached out "Nikki… come here" his voice was probably the softest he'd ever spoken.

The lynx didn't respond and continued to drop virtual tears from his face, only to disappear as they neared the floor, and struggle to breathe.

Scourge's response was automatic, against all of his character he stepped forward slightly pulling one arm away from her and to himself. At first she yanked her arm away, but a second try caused her to quickly hold onto him for dear life and plant for face into his chest.

He gasped, she always caught him off guard with how life like her hologram was, it was like she was actually real… the tears, going from her eyes to his chest even felt real.

But he slowly found his body automatically wrap his arms around her for comfort.

But for all his body did, it stopped, it didn't do more. He wanted to speak but not even the automatic reflex that had gotten him this far said anything.

He didn't speak he just stood there, holding the lynx who seemed to be unable to stop crying.

He wasn't thinking about anything, not of his fight, not of how lonely he felt, how unwanted he felt, or even how they'd gotten to this point. He just wanted the tears to stop.

It took him several minutes to notice a couple of things. He started to rub her back or pet her head, and, that he too had a tear in his eye. He wiped it away though, none followed afterwards.

Her tears eventually began to slow, it was ending. Scourge could feel a large sense of relief realizing that. Her sobbing slowly changed to hitch breathing.

In time she finally, just barely was able to say through her racking breathes "I-I'm… I'm s-sorry"

His eyes went wide, she was apologizing? Why? His chest felt like it had been stabbed with guilt. He almost flinched at the words.

"No… No why… don't be sorry" he said realizing he had to catch his breath.

"I… I sh-shouldn't be ac-cusing you of such thingssss"

He couldn't reply… he could only be silent… and that made him feel even more guilty.

"I sh-shouldn't be-f-f-f-forcing myself into your l-life" she inhaled making a loud hitch pitch noise sucking in air she simply didn't actually need.

He opened his mouth but nothing came again. His voice was gone.

"It's just" she sniffed and snuggled into his chest a bit "Ever s-since you freed me from that prison" another hitched inhaling of air "And I learned that everyone….. dead" she choked on the word "I've been… trying to… get through it…. My friends…. Almost all my family besides Tails… my best friend and s-s-s-sister Sally" she just barely was able to say the name "They are all gone…. Just… gone" her crying commenced again but it subsided very quickly.

"They… they were my world… my family… and they were all just suddenly gone after you told me" her grip around Scourge tightened "Everything I stood for and everyone I stood with… they are gone!" she yelled out into his chest "I…. I have nobody now…"

Scourge finally managed to say something "But what about Tails, he's still here"

Her head shook in his chest "Fiona… she is what he needs… he is healing because of her… I didn't want to get in the way of that"

He gulped "So… so why me?"

She took a moment to answer trying to breath and think "Because…. You and I both lost so much…. I thought…. I thought it would help… if I helped… because we have both lost our friends… our home… our life" Her original programming was an assistant AI, she naturally liked to help people.

"But I pushed too hard… I wanted a purpose… I wanted o replace what I lost and I angered you…. you stayed away… you pushed me away… I'm sorry" she went into a fit of crying yet again.

Scourge took a deep breath and shook his head "Don't be sorry!" he wasn't sure why he yelled "You didn't do anything wrong" his voice was soft again.

"Yes I di-"

"No you didn't…. I'm… I'm sorry" the words flowed out of his mouth barely a whisper "Just…don't cry"

"But I…"

"No… no buts… just stop crying… just don't be sorry. I should be sorry" he couldn't even believe he was saying those words.

Her response was to simply take his advice and slowly recover, catch her breath and dry her eyes.

It took awhile, but she quieted down. She was back to a normal breath. All she was doing now was holding onto him, unmoving.

Her hands went to slide off finally but stopped at a scar on his side. She didn't mean to but her finger slowly ran along it. She only stopped when the feeling caused Scourge to shiver.

"I'm sor…." No… don't say that, he said not to be sorry.

A brief pause came before she completely let go of him and took a step back. Her eyes faced the floor.

It was silent, both didn't move or say anything. Both debating their next move.

It was Scourge who made the first move He wordlessly took her hand and walked to the bed. He sat on the edge and said "If you want to look me over you still can"

She just nodded and looked over the large lump on the side of his head. Her gentle touch didn't irritate the sore lump like he expected.

The inspection was quick, she didn't say anything because nothing would be permanent. Time would heal these particular wounds.

The scars though, they still attracted her attention. She hadn't looked into his eyes since she left his embrace, but she had been staring at all the new scars she hadn't seen the last time she saw him with the jacket off.

Before she knew it her hands was on a scar on his arm and asked without warning "Do they hurt?"

Scourge stared at the floor as he answered "No"

She nodded and pulled away her hand but Scourges hand went to the two large ones on his chest. The ones he got back when he went super scourge, it was never explained why he got them. Nobody new why. But they were now an iconic part of him.

"Sometimes these do though…"

Nicole simply took in the words. She didn't anymore, or do anything else.

The silence was long, it was painful. They both hated it. So it felt like it was all over, so the lynx turned and quietly made her way to the door.

"Stop"

Her ears perked up then tilted backwards.

"Listen…. I… I do care how you feel…. And…. I won't tell anyone about this"

Though she didn't turn the statement just barely was able to make her smile.

She took a deep breath gain back her composure for when she walked out the door, knelt down to pick up her PDA then whispered "Thank you"

He watched her walk out of the room, then he stared at the door. He stared at it for a long time.

He didn't know how long he stared at the door, but he suddenly blinked and snapped out of it. He put on his jacket and went to sleep not caring what time it was.

Unfortunately, he didn't sleep that night.

 **HOLY CRAP, 8.5k words. That chapter exploded, came out like freaking water off a waterfall compared to the last few chapters. GOD DAMN that felt good.**

 **I truly hope this chapter was good, and you enjoyed it.**

 **This last week has been super stressful because of work. Not because it was pissing me off or making me tired, just… stressful in another way and I think it made want to write a bit. So here, is the 37** **th** **chapter. Hope it was good.**

 **Live long and prosper**

 **Admiralkirk**


	38. A plan

**A/N Alright so I got the last chapter out much faster than I predicted. Like I said a lot of stuff happened, to my knowledge it's over now.**

 **But yes all that stress came out in a form of writing, a lot of it. I think it came out so fast people who are used to my slower updates got caught off guard and missed it, let me know if that was the case.**

 **Also like always I appreciate all the support from you guys. I know I've said this but I'm glad nobody has any quarrels with Scourge and Nicole, I'm pretty sure it won't be a major pairing that will gain a following and the way I'm doing it is too specific. Like most other pairing there's a reason for it. Sonic and Amy, because she has always liked him, Sonic and Sally because they are and actual official pairing in the comics. Tails and Fiona because Tails actually did like Fiona for awhile. Silver and Blaze…. Because of Sonic 06(as far as I can tell) So yes I don't think Scole?... Nicourge… Scourcole? Will have a following of any kind.**

 **Also I have been seriously thinking about doing a mass effect thing since I recently finished a full playthrough of all three games. Not sure if anyone reading this story would be interested but that is taking a little bit of my attention away.**

 **I was also listening to def leppard recently and heard "When love and hate collide" and it felt like a perfect song to describe the earlier chapters of this story**

Tails had been clueless of the investigation of Scourge. He was too busy working to notice Scourge and Shadows injuries. Fiona never mentioned it to him and since he kept to himself for another day or two Blaze and Silver never noticed either.

Nobody knew that Nicole visited the green hedgehog afterwards, which was between the lynx and hedgehog. Nicole wasn't stuck in her work as much anymore. Her happy personality showed a little more then it had over the last month.

She wasn't fully back to herself, but she was moving away from the main computer more and talking to people on her own instead of waiting for someone to maybe come to the computer. Whenever she did she would leave a basic copy of herself that's only purpose was the raise that alarm if something that wasn't part of normal patrol patterns happened.

Once Scourge healed up and his head injury mostly disappeared he was around HQ more often. He did as Shadow said, although it usually required a bit of effort to get him to help or do something. He normally did only muscle work, but nobody was complaining. He was helping , that was what was important.

With his help things went a little easier. With another person on watch shifts weren't as tight and it wasn't a near constant state of sleep, and working. There was time for more relaxation.

That relaxation time had to be filled up though. There wasn't much to do in the HQ and it was getting people stir-crazy. Fiona brought up the issue to Tails so the fox made a point to keep an eye out for intact books on his scavenging runs.

Blaze was thankful, she'd lost the book she'd been reading when they lost the underground base. Tails actually managed to find a usable one out in the city. So she had that to get back to with her free time.

It was still very much a waiting game. Waiting for Tails to get stuff he needed to make weapons and improve the HQ. Sadly there was still the question, what were they going to do once they were ready?

Every day that crept by made the truth of their situation more and more clear… they had no plan. Shadow was the first to truly notice, what could they possibly do? They lacked all the tech, supplies, plans and weapons Tails had before. Their scanning, radar and threat detection was limited to the immediate area around the building and anything inside. They were completely surrounded, yet undetected, by possibly thousands of eggbots.

Besides having no plan they were one misstep from complete failure again. They wouldn't be able to recover a second time.

Lastly, they had absolutely no intel, no resources to gain intel. So they had no way of knowing what to strike or any leads of any kind.

Considering Shadows background the idea of having no plan besides sit around and put all your hope and trust into Tails was hard. Everyday he wanted to go into that workshop and demand to know if Tails had any plan past what they were doing now.

He found it just as hard to not speak of this to anyone. The terrible truth was that same trust and hope in Tails was what was keeping everyone from dropping out of line. The hope that Tails could get them all through this and save the world kept them in a state of ignorant bliss. If they began questioning a lack of a plan… people would get angry, start questioning future decisions, leaving, or even trying to take over.

These were things that simply couldn't happen, but eventually would if this continued.

Had it crossed Shadows mind to take control? Yes it had. But he also knew that despite his experiences in the past, he wasn't the one to make a grand strategy to beat Eggman.

He wanted into that base,,, for his own reasons, and he knew that impaired his judgment. Not that everyone else wanted in that base for emotional reasons. His made him need to get as soon as possible…. Timer that was running down to an unknown limit… or maybe it expired already.

So finally, with that motivation, he had to ask their leader.

Shadow peaked into the workshop and found Tails alone, good. Fiona was with him a lot lately and the idea of exposing a lack of plan to her already sounded bad. Or maybe she'd defend Tails and make it hard to get an answer.

He knocked simply incase he was doing something that he couldn't walk away from or could be dangerous. His ears perked and he looked to the door. Seeing the hedgehogs face he quit what he was doing and motioned for him to come inside.

He closed the door after coming in and walked over. Tails gave him a wave and a "hey" as a greeting. He returned it back.

He then asked "So, how's work?"

"Ok so far, taking some time to get more sensors around the building" the more they had the safer they were.

"Ya, good" he replied agreeing with that idea.

"Ya, hey was there anything you wanted me to keep my eye out for when I'm out scavenging" he asked everyone that sometimes.

"Nothing I can think of right now… but we need to talk" he wasn't gonna keep small talk going too long.

The use of that infamous phrase got Tails on alert "Ya… what about?"

Right to the point "Do we have a plan?"

"A plan, what ya mean?" was something coming up, were they actually celebrating someone birthday?

Shadow almost got angry, but gave him a pass, it was sort of a random question without context "I mean, what's are plan to beating Eggman, do we have a game plan to continue towards?"

"Oh… well…" Tails looked like he was really thinking hard, but it quickly changed to a depressed slouch "No… I hate it but… no I have no idea what to do"

"You have no idea what we are going to do? How can you have no idea?" he asked not really loosening up from the depressed fox.

Tails stayed pretty calm for now, he'd been dreading the day someone asked him this, it was a legitimate question "We don't have intel, we lost all we had in the base. Any long range scanners or transmission interception is also gone. Believe me I've been trying to find parts to make new equipment… but I need to worry about everything else"

Admittedly Tails looked like he was trying his best, he was the only one going out into the city and scrounging for stuff, and there were a lot of things that all needed to be done, but they still needed something, anything, any direction to keep them moving towards the end goal.

"Why can't we just make some new hacking devices, and try to hack info from bots again?" Shadow asked.

"I could find stuff to make those, they'd be far more crude and most likely slower, but I don't want a repeat of last time"

Shadow eyed the younger fox suddenly said "You're afraid"

The kitsune lifted his eyes to look at the older male "No, I'm cautious"

"No you aren't. You are afraid that we'll get caught again and lose everything" Shadow persisted.

"Ya, of course I'm scared. I lost what was left of my mother because of it. The last of my family is here in this building. If I lost them then I'd be lost for good. I'm afraid that we'll lose this fight because of a mistake, I'm afraid that I'll have to watch you all die because of a call I made. You saw what happened to Sonic after he survived the attack. He deteriorated in a month or two. I can't lose this fight and I especially can't lose all of you!" Tear threatened to escape his eyes but he held them back.

He was terrified of losing anyone, he'd already had to live with the idea everyone had died two years ago. That he hadn't been there to help, and that he'd been alone for two years with nothing but fake version of his mother to keep him company.

Everyone in this building, even Scourge were the last of his friends. After two years of guessing they were dead, he wasn't going to walk into another trap again. The idea of losing anyone might break him for good…. Dear god if that person was Fiona.

"You can't let your fear hold you back Tails. Like it or not, you are our leader."

"I never wanted to be the leader! Not before all this happened and not after. Sonic and Sally were the ones in charge. I just made things and did as they said They knew what to do and knew how to make hard decisions"

"Well you are now, and everyone here seems to agree. You're gonna have to make the hard choices, and when you do it may come down to people dying you're gonna have to live with that choice"

Tails growled "You seem to know more than me, why don't you be the leader!?" honestly he'd wondering for awhile.

"I had a chance to stop Sonic the day he led all our friends to death. I failed, I failed to protect Knuckles and… Amy after we escaped. I am more aggressive than you, and outside of Nicole you know Eggmans tech and capabilities better than any of us. You have the knowledge to make plans and work for the long run" Shadow wasn't a leader. He'd been apart of team dark but he and Rouge led the group. Although the bat had always tried to encourage him to lead it usually stayed as a more fifty-fifty relationship.

"You led the settlement you found, you kept those people safe!?" Tails protested.

"Yes, I ran a settlement. But there were no hard choices. I taught them how to survive, and I protected it from attacks. You might think I made the hard choice between staying or going, and hiding the emerald. But it wasn't. Those people needed protection, it was a simple choice to stay and keep them alive. The hardest choice I made was going with you and losing that place" Shadow explained.

"But you led that place. Silver listened to you, that bear listened to you and everyone else did too?" Tails asked again.

"I didn't lead them, I protected them, taught them what they to know to survive on their own, and I earned their trust and respect. I ruled over nobody"

Tails simply groaned "I don't want the pressure of making the decisions around here" he was clearly distressed.

Shadow sighed, Tails was scared. He saw what could become of him if he messed up; he watched every video log Sonic made, and his decent over three months. How he lost the will to fight. The young fox didn't want to become that, he just wanted to save the world. Not lead the heroes to that victory. Unfortunately, he was most qualified. He'd shown his leadership skill already. He'd proven he could lead, but he wasn't ready for the consequences. Sadly nobody ever was ready for when things failed, you had to learn to cope with it.

"You don't have to lead alone, or make the decisions solely by yourself. While I said you're more fit to lead than me, I can still offer advice or options, along with everyone else"

Tails sighed "You sound like Fiona"

"She's a sharp woman then. Remember, we're a team, and that means we work together. That also means we share the burden to a certain extent. While we can offer our opinions and advice, unless you are making a monumentally stupid choice, we'll follow and do as you say" Shadow explained

Tails was going to ask why he sounded so confident explaining that but Shadow read his mind and answered before he could speak "While I was working with team dark Rouge and I generally made the decisions, more often her than me. Omega offered his opinions, advice and tactical readings. Then we'd base a decision on all the info and ideas we had. It got us far and we survived"

Tails contemplated his words, leaving a long silence. He made sense, and he agreed with that, but now he had to make a choice. Would he be the leader permanently or would he give up?

He with a long sigh he leaned against the workbench and asked "Ok then, what do you suggest we do?"

"Well if you want my opinion I say we stop with making this place livable. It's fine for now, we stop focusing on weapons too. We aren't fighting anything yet so weapons are useless. I say we work on getting some kind of way to get intelligence, and leads. We need a target, some kind of minor goal to show we aren't dead yet. To show we are not defeated yet" Shadow explained, he wasn't sure how they'd accomplish all that, but he knew they needed a smaller goal to work towards before going after the big finish.

Tails nodded taking in the advice. He agreed, they weren't going anywhere without intel.

He nodded "Ok, I think I'll work on that" His ears dropped showing he was just tired. Thinking about what they should focus on and everything else that had been plaguing his mind had made him so exhausted. In fact he was tired because he was avoiding sleep as well. He'd never tell Fiona, or anyone else, but he was afraid to sleep. He was scared to have nightmares of his friends dying, and it being his fault.

He said he was going to think about it, but he actually meant to speak to Fiona about it.

"Do that, and remember to get some rest. If you really need it one of us can go and scavenge" Shadow suggested. The younger male was terrible at hiding his exhaustion; it was all over his face.

"No… I have my suit-"

"One of us can wear the suit as well, it might not comfortable, but one of can make it work" Shadow explained seeing no problem with that.

The fox looked away to the wall. He wasn't too fond of that idea, even if it made sense. The suit was his, it was one of the longest running projects he'd ever worked on. He still remembered the day he brought up the basic ideas in his journal. Then the day he made the basic prototype. Which essentially was a black suit, plastic shoulder and knee pads, a utility belt and pretty much a motorcycle helmet. One look in the mirror and he was instantly motivated to make it better. He looked really goofy, can't strike fear in your enemies looking goofy.

Either way he'd been working on it for years, only his plane beat it in time spent working on it over the years. It was apart of him, the idea of somewhere wearing it besides him felt…. Wrong. The closest anyone had gotten to wearing it was when Fiona tried the helmet for a minute.

But he was right; he needed sleep, as much as he was avoiding it. It might be necessary to keep him sharp….. no… it would be necessary.

He nodded with a heavy, tired sigh "Ya… I'll… do that…."

"I won't tell you who should be the one to go out there for parts but I advise myself. I know my way around the city, and I've worked on stealth missions before" Shadow explained.

Tails put a finger to his temple trying to think, ya Shadow could do it, but that would mean nothing if he didn't know what he was looking for. Shadow wasn't the most tech savvy guy here. Nicole was probably the next closest thing to that criteria. Unfortunately she wasn't one to go out alone, and the suit couldn't hide her PDA.

There was one person he could think of, Fiona. She knew what he needed, she was practically his assistant in his lab. She was definitely subtle, she'd proven this in the past. She knew how to survive too. Plus, unlike Shadow and his quills her head could fit inside the helmet comfortably.

"As much as I'd trust you to not get caught I want Fiona doing it. She knows what I need and what it looks like. Sorry to keep you cooped up in here longer" Tails apologized.

"I can't blame you for your logic on that. Let her know, then get some sleep" he half turned then said "And remember, you always got us to talk to" even if Shadow wasn't the talking type he could offer advice.

"I will, and thanks" The fox nodded with a smile.

"Any time" the hedgehog walked to the door and left satisfied that they now had a plan.

Tails soon left after him to go find Fiona.

She was spending her time speaking with Nicole. The lynx wanted to talk to someone and found her taking a break from her assistant work so decided to talk with her.

"So, Nicole, I've always wondered. Have you ever had a crush on someone, or has that concept not really bugged you yet?" Fiona asked.

Nicole thought it over, going through all her memories of the past and trying to remember any circumstances that could possibly be considered a crush. It took only a second or two due to her computer brain.

"No, I don't believe so. Why would you want to know that?"

Fiona shrugged "Well you've been alive for awhile now, you're met a lot of interesting people I thought maybe one kinda caught your interest, or looked handsome or made you…. unable to think properly?"

"No, never… but…. Maybe…"

Tails walked in smiling as he did seeing the girls talking "Hey girls, how are ya?"

"Just some girl talk" Fiona said slightly disappointed the conversation was cut short.

"Sorry if I'm intruding" he smiled but said "I need to talk to Fiona for a moment. It's important"

Nicole got what he meant and got up "Then I come back later"

"Thanks" Tails smiled with a nod.

When the lynx left Tails sat down in the chair she had been occupying and sighed "Ok first… I wanted to tell you that Shadow stopped by. He brought up a point that I've been honestly avoiding for awhile now, and that's a plan"

Fiona was a little glad to hear that, it meant someone else finally noticed that he was only working and making no plans "So… do we have a plan?" she asked cautiously.

He nodded again "I'm pretty sure this is what we should be doing, but I just wanted your opinion too. Shadow suggested we focus on gaining intel. Since we have no way of gaining meaningful intel right now he also suggested I start working on systems and devices for that purpose" he explaned.

Fionas answer was quick "That makes sense, I like the idea" didn't seem like something required him to seek her out and get her opinion.

"There's something else" Tails continued "I know you of all people know I'm not sleeping well… partially because I'm working too hard. Shadow also suggested I catch some more Z's"

"I've wanted that for awhile, Tails, how come his words are more important than mine?" she acted offended but felt some relief he was considering it now.

"No it's not that his are more important it's just… he came up with an idea…. One I'm still not fully comfortable with for a couple reasons but he is right" he paused for a moment "He says other people should go out for scavenging, but it's only safe with the suit… so he suggested someone else wear it. He volunteered but not only is he not a tech person like me, but he'd be crammed inside that suit. He's bigger than me and has those big quills" he explained.

"So who?"

"You, Fi"

"What? Me, why?" she asked surprised he was even going to go with this idea.

"Because you work with me now, that means you know what I need and what it looks like. You can fit in the suit since it's meant for a fox and I know you are stealthy" He explained calmly as he could considering he was giving up his most prized possession to her.

To say Fiona was stunned would be an understatement. She knew how much he loved that suit, it showed her just how much trust he'd put into her "I-If you think that's the right choice I'll do whatever I can to do what I need to do and keep it safe"

Tails took a deep breath before nodding finalizing his decision. He wasn't sure what else to say now. He felt he should say something but simply couldn't.

Fiona could see it and leaned in close and said softly "I'll be careful, I promise"

Her words calmed him a little as he nodded again "I know….. I'll go get a list of things I need"

She nodded sitting back down, she felt like weights were on her shoulders now. He was giving her the suit and trusting her to bring it back. She was confident in herself it was just the 'what ifs' that were scaring her.

What if she was discovered? What if she got hurt? What if they captured her? While these options were unlikely with the stealth systems of the suit they were scenarios that would do more than just hurt her.

She was pretty sure that she and the suit were the two things keeping Tails stable. A life long project and the his girlfriend. She saw what he had become in his isolation…. If she was captured or taken away along with the suit…. Well…. She didn't even want to know how bad he'd get.

He soon came back with a sheet of paper and the suit "Ok, so here's the list, let me teach you how to use the suit alright?"

She nodded and he began explaining where all the pockets were, the material it was made of and the strong and weak points. That was pretty simple stuff but it was just a start.

"The helmet won't respond to you until I give it the commend codes and needs a few samples of your voice to recognize you. That's simple, just say a few lines. There is a basic VI inside that will help take care giving you relevant data. For example it know my morph gun and will display ammo left and what configuration it's in. Or it will leave a map and directions for you to refer to. It will respond to voice commands if you need info it's not giving. It will also do threat assessment declaring enemies and even possibly dangerous objects"

He stopped to make sure she was paying attention, he asked her to repeat and she answered back. Her answer was a simpler version, but he was confident she got it.

"Ok so in combat the VI will activate defense protocols. The helmet has several optical modes like infrared, motion sensors, limited x-ray vision and heart beat sensor. There's a few others that are very situation specific. If the VI sees something it will let you know"

Once again he took a moment to do a recap.

"During combat it will also mark enemies it believes to be highest priority. Even though you won't need while alone out there it can also monitor vitals signs of any allies" he explained "If you have other questions the Vi can answer questions. You might need to phrase your questions properly for that though because it might not understand"

"Ok, so…. Guess we should get the voice recognition thing going right?" Fiona asked trying to digest the information.

"Ya, let's do that" he said putting the helmet on and said "Add new user to memory" He took it off for Fiona to put it on "Follow it's instructions"

She nodded placing the helmet over heard and lined her ears up with the holes. Like she expected it wasn't precisely her size and it put a bit pressure on her ears. It wasn't that bad but noticeable.

"Please speak until I say to stop" the female VI voice instructed.

"Ummm…. Hi I'm Fiona, I am a fox like Tails. I guess I'm gonna have to work with you now so hopefully this works out…. Uhhh… let's see…"

"Thank you, configuring voice recognition to memory, please wait"

Tails tapped Fionas shoulder making her turn her head to him "The Vi may be a voice but it has no personality, the closest it will get to knowing you is it will scans your habits, fighting style and preferences and adapt how it reacts in situation to you"

"Oh right…. I think you explained this, something like VI's are simple and for specific jobs while Ai's can learn to do anything and be anyone they want…. Like Nicole?"

He nodded glad she was listening "Ya, it has mostly pre-determined responses. If you asked it the same question over and over it would never change the way it answer and will never complain about being asked it multiple times"

"Oh alright" she made sure to remember that and not feel bad incase she ever mouthed off to the voice.

"Voice configuration complete, would like me to call you a specific name?"

"Yes"

"Very well, what name do you wish for me to call you?"

"Fiona"

"Affirmative, this users designation will be Fiona until further notice. Welcome Fiona, I am Eva. As a new user would you like to learn the functions of this helmet and suit with the tutorial?"

"Not right now?"

"Of course, just ask to start the tutorial when you are ready. If you wish to learn individual systems I can list them on your HUD and you can choose individual selections"

"Thank you Eva"

"You are welcome Fiona"

Tails then said "Ok so give her a command of some kind, see if the voice recognition is actually working.

She nodded "Uhhh, activate infrared vision"

"Infrared vision is active" Fiona vision changed to colours, Tails sat in front of her and filled most of her vision. He was normal temperature giving off lighter colours unlike the rest of the room that was at room temperature.

"Turn off infrared and mark friends"

Her vision went back to normal and a green square appeared around Tails "Currently one ally in vision, five more are nearby"

Good that was working "Can I see the mini map?"

"Certainly" a opaque map appeared on screen. She could still see threw it and tell what was happening in her vision but see the map and use it effectively.

"Thank you Eva"

The map faded away and Fiona took off the helmet "Seems to be working" that was actually kinda cool.

"So you think ya got it?" Tails asked.

"Ya I think I got it" she nodded back.

"Ok so I guess last thing left is to get you in the suit then I can go and sleep" he didn't sound too thrilled.

"Ok, I think you'll need to show me where all the buckles are" she said picking up the parts of the suit slipping into the pants. Due to her clothes being fairly form fitting she didn't need to take off her normal clothes to fit inside the suit comfortably.

"Ya just get everything on first, remember sleeves over the gloves, and swap out your boots for suits boots" Tails explained.

She got everything on, she found the part that went from the shirt and tucked into the helmet a little awkward, but without it her neck would be exposed. She took his advice and had her sleeves over the gloves to avoid having a open spot there as well, and finally she swapped her boots. After that she had the plates strapped one. The chest plate was attached to the top, but the knee guards and left shoulder pauldron went had to be re-attached.

When she was all done the only thing that could tip off it wasn't Tails in there was the single tail.

"So how do I look?" she tested the weight of it all and was pleasantly surprised to find it to be pretty light. Tails hadn't been kidding when he said he used light weight materials for this thing. She also tested the range of movement and found it was quite forgiving in that area as well. Of course Tails was never as agile as she was so it wasn't built to handle what she could do, but if it did it's job she wouldn't need to push to her limits like that anyway.

"Well there's a few minor changes I wish I could change to make it more comfortable for you, but that can't be helped now" he shrugged "Nothing hurting you, anything feels out of place, everything snug in place" he asked.

She shook her head "No, it's pretty good. I think I'm ready" she knew even with the helmet he'd never see her face but she still managed a confident smile, mostly to reassure herself.

"Alright…" he nodded but didn't really move to leave or do anything.

She could read his mind though and said "I'll be careful, it will come back in one piece"

"Ya…. But you be careful too, you come back in one piece too" he requested.

"Oh wait, here take this as well, it will cloak with the armour as long as it's in contact with you somehow, like your back or your hands" he handed her the morph gun. The Vi can switch it on it's own and generally knows what what form to use in a situation, hopefully you won't need to use it. It will magnetise to the back of the armour" Tails explained handing it over.

"It's good to know you care, but yes I'll bring myself, the gun and the suit back in one piece" she put two fingers to relatively where her mouth was under the mask then pressed the two fingers against his lips and said "Be back soon, now get some sleep you deserve it" she reached behind her placing the gun on her back.

He blushed a little from her show of affection, but nodded "Ya… I will. Good luck" he rather reluctantly walked past Fiona and headed for his room trying very hard not to look back.

When he was out of sight Fiona went to the main computer finding Nicole there. Unlike normal she was in her holo form sitting in the chair watching the screens while her PDA stayed connected to the system.

"Nicole" she called walking over to the lynx.

The lynx looked back and clearly looked confused, Fionas voice came from Tails' armour.

Fiona picked up on this and said "It's me, Fiona. Tails needed to sleep badly so he wants me to go out and find salvage"

"Oh, yes. I believe that's most logical choice" Nicole agreed with ails judgment "The other choice would be Shadow, but he doesn't know what to look for"

"That was his exact reasoning as well…. Well also Shadows head wouldn't fit in the helmet" she chuckled imagining Shadow stuffing his mass of quills inside this thing.

"Yes that is also good reason" Nicole then began typing on the computer and revealed a map of Metropolis. Several streets were red indicating a building had fallen covering the road. Dots slowly moved around which were the patrols and a lot of blocks were in black which were places they hadn't looked through yet. A few places had stars on them meaning those places had been visited but were still full of useful stuff.

Nicole then typed a bit more and an arrow began moving around the map starting from their location. It went through several structures and eventually made it's way back to Freedom HQ.

"This will be your route, there's more in depth instructions Eva will monitor like patrol times and will warn you when you must continue moving forward to maximize your chances of not being detected. Remember, don't take risks and get back with what you can" Nicole explained pulling out a memory stick from the computer.

The lynx took the memory stick and said "Please turn around"

Fiona did as she asked feeling her push the stick into a port on the back of the helmet.

"There, you got all the tools you need" Nicole nodded.

"Thanks Nicole. Watch the fort for me while I'm gone alright?" Fiona requested the lynx.

"Of course, be careful" she smiled watching the fox make her way to the exit of the building and begin her journey.

 **Ok sorry this took so long, I kinda was stressed by work because I think the higher ups are idiots and don't realize just how bad the line I work on is. I mean I think the amount of waste we have increased to 43% over a week. And they think removing people from the line is gonna fix things, man did they get a wake up call.**

 **Besides that I mentioned this before but I was gaming Mass effect hard. Got all the dlc and it was great, can't wait for Andromeda! And halo wars 2 as well!**

 **Anyway like I said I played mass effect for days and it kinda got my brain on an idea of an… odd couple. I still have idea going around and I'm working on specifics, and I don't really plan on starting it until I finish this story(I've learned I can't juggle stories very effectively)**

 **Also Merry (late) Christmas I hope you all had a great time on your holidays, whatever they may have been and had fun. And happy (late) new years!**

 **Anyway thanks for reading and the patience**

 **Live long and prosper**

 **Admiralkirk**


	39. Scavenger hunt

**A/N Ok so here's next chapter, said this before but the itch to do some mass effect stuff is in my head now. I don't know what I'm gonna do or if I'll work on that while working on this but I'd like to give you all a heads up a head of time. If you like Mass effect and like the characters and stuff I end up using feel free to read.**

 **I actually started a one shot that turned into a huge as hell one shot. I don't think it's my best. Let's just say it's hard to write legion and even harder to do him in that context. To make it make sense and logical and have it done right.**

 **Someone asked if EVA is a reference to something. I'm sure you could reference it to something but it's more of me taking a name off something I saw recently because I suck at making names. Like I said I was playing mass effect and in the third game in an early mission you have to chase down a woman named Eva Core. After her shuttle is taken down it is revealed she is a robot disguised to be a human. So she isn't a VI she's actually more of an AI. If you want to call that reference go ahead.**

 **This chapter was a bit hard to write as well. Work has been exhausting, I went through a lot of stress just trying to figure out my new schedule and getting time off for the end of June. Like literally the communication at the factory is terrible. Whatever. Besides that I've been just kinda losing inspiration again, it's also hard to writ a chapter that for long stretches of time has only one actual character in the scene. Besides that I've been gaming a bit more, with friends and also playing league a bit more because Warwick finally got his rework after 8 years and he was the first champ I ever bought.**

 **Lastly, crap joke incoming. Someone said I may be the first person to pair up Scourge and Nicole…. Guess I'm captain of this ship. Commence your groans.**

 **Thanks, for reading and enjoy the chapter.**

Fiona's boots landed hit the ground spreading away ash, she hadn't been out here in awhile. All cooped up in headquarters had made her almost forget what it looked like out here. It quickly made her a little depressed.

She looked to the map on her HUD and saw it directed her to go left. She continued her way down the street. Apparently she wouldn't find a patrol for a bit. The empty streets made her feel small. It was so hard to think that this place was a bustling place where thousands of people passed through daily.

She knew if they could win and beat Eggman, that could be real again, just given some time and luck.

It was a bit of a walk before Fiona reached the first place of interest on the route. Since Tails had been doing this for awhile they had to go out further to find new places. Plenty of spots he'd looked through still had useful stuff, but it was easier to look for new places right now.

The first place was a small electronics store. She de-cloaked once getting inside and looked at her list.

"Eva, can you spot anything on this list as I look around the store?" Fiona asked.

"I can do that, Fiona. Please look around and I will mark items of interest" Eva said.

"Great" The fox began walking around the store looking at anything she could. She reached inside her belt for large bag. It was one of the things Tails kept in the suit all the time incase he found something he wanted. It was near impossible to rip and cloaked with the suit if it was touching it in some way.

She travelled through the store as Eva marked items with a green dot. She'd pick up what she could, though made sure to leave room for later. This place didn't have everything Tails was looking for right now.

"I suggest we leave now if we wish to stay on schedule" Eva explained a timer appearing next to the map.

"Ok, thanks Eva" she hefted the bag over her shoulder activating her cloak again and left the store.

"Of course, Fiona"

She continued along the path marked on her map. She tried to tunnel vision to avoid seeing the destroyed city. There wasn't much to distract her from it. It made it even worse that Eva wouldn't be able to hold a conversation. She missed Rosemary, maybe she could have been in the helmet, atleast they could talk.

Maybe she'd been right on ehte money when she suggested Tails use this time to clear his head and get away from command of the team. It was deadly quiet, nothing but herself.

She sighed again and looked to the sky, atleast that never changed.

"I suggest you keep your eyes out for danger" Eva interrupted her thoughts noticing she was staring at the sky.

"Oh, sorry" she aimed her vision back in front of her.

"We will reach the next location in a few minutes. There will be a patrol passing by shortly, I will warn you when they will relatively pass by" Eva explained.

"Thanks, Eva" Fiona thanked her beginning to jog knowing she'd be safe along the route.

Like she within a few minutes she arrived at the next location, a two story offive building, although half had been blown away.

"Jeez what happened here?" she asked looking for clues as she approached.

"I cannot make a an effective guess on that. Though initial scans show the blasts happened a long time ago" Eva said.

"Probably happened when Eggman did his global attack" Fiona guessed, it's not like anyone else was in the city to do it.

"That is a reasonable hypothesis"

The fox headed inside and once again began looking around as Eva scanned items. Walking through she remembered a conversation from years ago, back when she was an actual Freedom fighter.

Past…

"You ever wonder where you'd be if we weren't saving the world?" Sally asked. She along with Sonic and Fiona were sitting around relaxing while they could.

"Well we all know where you'd be" Fiona said back to the princess.

Sally chuckled "Well yes, but I meant the rest of you"

Sonic smirked "Definitely wouldn't be doing anything boring"

"No definitely wouldn't be doing a desk job" Fiona agreed.

"Bet Tails would be doing paperwork to get into a college or university" Sally smiled remembering how fast the boy was developing.

"Oh Antoine would be training to do his dads job" Sonic chimed in.

Fiona smirked "Bunnie would be anywhere near a kitchen, I guarantee it"

The three both agreed with that slowly goig back to another bout of silence and relaxation.

Present…

Fiona wondered where she'd be had she not been kidnapped as a child. Would she have ever et the members of the Freedom fighters? Would she have been just a normal girl? She sort of hoped that was wrong.

Yes, getting kidnapped and never meeting her parents again had scarred her deeply. Not to mention she'd made some pretty bad decisions in her life, but she could never imagine her life being normal. She wouldn't be able to stand it.

The fox frowned though. If she hadn't come to the Freedom fighters maybe Tails would have never grown up so wrong and left the team. Then he might have been there to help with Eggman. She knew there was no use thinking about what could have been, but sometimes it was hard when it could have been the difference between Mobius and it's inhabitants dying to a fat madman or not.

She continued to look around when Eva said "Patrol approaching, activating cloak"

Fiona still instinctively hid behind a desk and peaked around the corner. She kept her eye out to the large opening of the building. In a couple seconds a patrol came into view. They seemed to be just walking, no sign of them being on alert.

She watched as they passed. She then waited another minute before moving again once she lost sight of them before beginning her search again. It was quick, she only picked up one or two more things before continuing her journey again.

"Alright show me where to go next"

"This way" the map came up again and she was on the move again.

Back at the HQ…

Nicole fiddled with her hair as she ascended the stairs to the roof. It was empty feeling in here. Her footsteps echoed through them, but it was the only way up so she could suck it up.

She reached the door to the roof and opened them and found who she was looking for.

Scourge was resting against an old air intake. She couldn't help but smile seeing him like that. He was supposed to be watching out for any suspicious activity, but honestly they'd been awhile now and been perfectly fine. Even Shadow had been caught slacking once recently.

She approached the resting hedgehog and sat down beside him. She didn't feel like disrupting his rest. She smiled staring off into the empty sky. It was a nice day out, a small breeze, little clouds and nice blue sky.

She found herself smiling more since she and Scourge spoke before. Well they'd spoken since then, but the important one in his room. She was glad he wasn't annoyed by her. She was still sort of confused by his actions though, maybe she just had more to learn?

Her hands continued to fidget around, she felt…. Nervous? Was that the feeling? Oh maybe it was because she sat down next to a sleeping person and decided not to wake them. That'd be strange to wake up next to someone just silently sitting next to you right?

Her ears drooped a little feeling like she was being a creep and repositioned the way she was sitting. It was enough to nudge Scourge by accident. He snorted a little and slowly flickered his eyes open.

"Huh? What?" felt thought someone was waking him up cause he fell asleep.

Nicole frowned feeling bad for disturbing his sleep "I'm sorry, I did not mean to wake you" oh she hoped he didn't get mad with her again.

"Oh" he took a deep breath rubbing his eyes "Hey Nicki" he arched his back and it popped "What's up?"

Her ears perked up glad he wasn't mad "Oh not much I guess, just wanted to check up on you, see if you are hungry or something"

"I'm fine" he shrugged, it wasn't him dismissing her, just a short answer cause he was still waking up.

"Oh good, I'm good as well" she said a bit awkwardly.

He just nodded staying quiet…

Nicole kept shifting every once in awhile, her hands fidgeted around, she messed with her hair occasionally and her eyes darted around. Mostly they'd try to see what Scourge doing without turning her head but then zip back to other directions.

"Something bugging you?" Scourge finally asked a little annoyed by her constant movement.

"Huh? Oh… ummm… n-nothing" she very terribly lied.

"You sure?" Scourge asked nudging her.

Nicole was quiet for some time, Scourge nearly stop listening for a reply until she opened her mouth. No words came out for a moment like she were thinking of an answer, or how to say it.

"I feel like my mind is in other places, I'm trying to focus on keeping everyone safe and well, but I keep thinking of other things" she tried to explain.

"You must be worried about something then, it happens to people all the time" he shrugged.

"Well, yes I know that, and I know it has happened to me as well. Usually I can figure out what the problem with ease and manage, but I feel so scatter brained" her ears drooped, she was so confused. Maybe it had to do with recent events. Waking to find all your friends dead, the world she helped protect was gone, and shortly after losing their home again.

"I'm not the smartest guy, you know that" he sighed "But I guess there's something new going on in that head of yours. Something you don't understand yet…. I guess" he shrugged admitting he wasn't fully sure.

"I was thinking that too" Nicole agreed.

"Probably a dumb suggestion but have you tried to focus on what's taking your attention?"

"Yes…. I feel like I know it , but then it's gone" she frowned.

Scourge was good at stuff like this so said "You'll figure it out I guess"

"I hope so" she sighed.

Scourge felt her lean against him. He didn't mention it and both sat silently with eachother.

Elsewhere…

Fiona had filled up her bag and even her pockets with stuff. Eva suggested heading back, but Fiona wanted to continue to each location, simply see what was still in stock. So far she'd visited all but one location, and she was getting close to it.

She;d gone through a couple close encounters with patrols, nothing too risky, but despite her cloaking she'd still feel her fur go on edge.

Like the other places almost everything was still there, all be it aged and damaged.

"It seems this place is well stocked as well. I suggest heading back now that we've seen all locations on the route" Eva said

"Ya, that was my plan" Fiona turned and began heading back.

The walk like always was quiet, outside of the occasional patrols or hover ships she'd avoid.

Seeing the ruined city and bots made her angry. She remembered the days when eggbots weren't allowed in here, now it was the opposite. She'd kill Eggman or die trying.

Her ears dropped at the thought "Shouldn't be thinking that way… it shouldn't come to that unless there's no options"

Besides, with Eggman gone she doubted everyone would just work together in perfect harmony, as much as she hated to admit it. Mobians could be terrible to eachother, and without Eggman, a power vacuum would open up. People like her, Tails and everyone else would be needed to keep the peace.

She sighed getting back to the HQ, for now, this was there home now. For how long? Who knows.

Once inside she turned off her cloaking and walked back to the workshop. Inside she found Tails, as expected. He was always working now, he was supposed to be resting. She opened the door and eventually closed it "Hey there" she smiled.

He turned "Fi, you're back" he sounded relieved dropping what he was working on to walk to her. He hugged her and "Glad to see you're ok"

She smiled hugging back "Wasn't too hard considering I had a suit that makes me invisible, but it's good to be around friendly faces again"

"Good to hear it went well" Tails smiled breaking the hug "So let me see what you got"

She nodded handing him the bag, he rummaged through and began sorting through everything. He seemed pleased with what she found, as he looked through everything he asked "How was Eva?"

"She was fine" she was just getting the last of the armor off "Good advice and useful in helping me grab what I needed. Wish she could hold a conversation, but whatever" she shrugged.

"Ya, it kinda sucks, but I don't have time or the resources to make her more advanced" He sighed.

"Don't worry about it, she gets the job done, that's all we really need"

"True" he agreed "Good job with the stuff you got, I can use this pretty well.

"Great" Fiona said smirking walking up behind him "But now…" her hands grabbed his shoulders making him freeze "It's time to get some rest"

He sighed hearing that, he didn't want to sleep, he avoided it once, but he wasn't gonna get out of it this time.

"Fine" he said as Fiona pushed him to the workshop door and back to his room.

 **Ok so it's short, honestly ut's because I needed a chapter out and show I'm not gone yet. I have been sort of losing a lot of time to myself. Changing to afternoon shift as drastically lowered the amount of time I have for various reasons, and I don't see my family anymore five days of the week. I work when everyone is home I wake just after everyone leaves and by the time I come home from work everyone is sleeping. It sucks. Not to mention the new area I'm working in it draining my soul away because(and I'm not even joking) nothing works. The machines fail every day, multiple times per shift, even the new stuff that came in a month ago, doesn't work. Not one day has passed with ease. I hate it there.**

 **Besides that with the lowered amount of time to myself I've been trying to fit in playing my new games that recently came out, For honour(Except the servers suck) and halo wars 2. In a month I'll have mass effect Andromeda too.**

 **So yes, everything is kinda weird right now so please forgive for the lack of updates and length of chapter. I'm sorry**

 **Live long and prosper**

 **Admiralkirk**


	40. Getting to work

**A/N Ok so like I said before I'm finding it hard to be motivated to write this. That is not the fault of anyone but my own. It's just my mind is on other things and ideas are kinda slow. So like always, sorry for the slow update time.**

"We need to start working towards our goal, spreading our focus. If we don't we'll forget to do those things, and the last thing we need is to lose focus on our goal"

Everyone was standing around Tails' workbench. He'd called them in after everyone had woken up, and gotten breakfast.

All around everyone agreed, it was time to really get into gear.

"So, what are we going to do?" Shadow asked.

"First, we keep working on getting stuff, we've got a head start on that so we can slow down. Second, we continue to make this place secure, safe and secret. Once again we have a head start. Third, we find weaknesses in Eggmans empire. Cracks of any kind, anything that we can realistically hit and escape from. Which leads me to number four, weapons" Tails explained pausing for a moment.

"We're definetly gonna need more equipment if we want to start making the angry fat man sweat" Scourge agreed.

"Yes, unfortunately I don't think I can make what we need" Tails said sighing. It made everyone else frown, but he had more to say "So that is why, we are going to steal what we can from him. At this moment he is in control of pretty much all advanced technology on the entire planet, as far as I know. So the only chance we have is to use his own equipment against him"

"I know it's mostly likely our only option, but how to do we safely steal weapons from him?" Silver asked.

"Yes, I'm sure carrying all that equipment, no matter how small would be a burden that could get us killed" Blaze agreed.

"And if we go for the big guns it won't be easy to get them out of there, hide them and more importantly, get it back to wherever our hiding spot may be without Eggman knowing where we go" Scourge said explaining his worries "He did it once and we nearly got snuffed out, bastard could easily do it again"

His words were to the point, and honest. The group seemed to agree.

"Well, I need to think that over. The most obvious way to move anything heavy would be Silver and his powers" Tails gestured to the youngest member of the team "As for secrecy I don't know, but we are not stashing it all here. I'm not losing this place too"

Everyone nodded to that wholeheartedly. They were all sure that if they went through that again, it would be over for good.

"Then we must find another place to put everything, preferably not in the city. We'd never be able to transport everything in the city undetected" Shadow said crossing his arms "Not to mention close to our HQ, if he finds stolen gear in the city, he'll suspect we're bold enough to be in here as well and start a search"

"A good point" Tails nodded making a mental note to keep the entire city off his choices of hiding places.

"We'll figure that out later, for now, we should focus on taking the steps to get to that point" Blaze said.

"Agreed" Shadow nodded back.

"So who does what?" Fiona asked wanting to get the conversation moving forward.

"Shadow and Scourge are the fastest. They can run around and scout out facilities, and figure out their weaknesses. Since Shadow knows battle strategy he can scout on his own. Scourge will go with Nicole, she'll scan the places you find and figure it out" Tails explained.

Scourge snorted and said "What you think I can't do that job by myself?"

"No, Scourge" Tails sighed "I know Shadow has a lot of background in stuff like this. He's also worked with Rouge which pretty much means he's got experience breaking into places"

"I broke out of a super jail" Scourge argued back.

Before Tails could refute that Fiona spoke first "You mean I broke you out of that jail. I let myself be captured, I got the ring inside so we could escape" putting Scourge down quickly.

He huffed rolling his eyes and crossed his arms. He stayed quiet though knowing Tails wasn't changing his mind.

"And what about us?" Blaze asked motioning to Silver as well.

"You two work on finding a place to put anything we steal" the fox explained "Anywhere that is under cover, a place where the eggbots wouldn't actively look at, and most importantly large enough to take whatever we may get"

Blaze and Silver looked to one another. It'd be a very important job, they'd only get one chance to choose a place. They were confident though, or atleast thought the other was confident, and nodded.

"We'll look around and find the best place we can find" Silver nodded.

"Make sure whatever place you find is the best. We can't afford to be caught again" Tails needed to make sure they understood that.

"We understand perfectly Tails" Blaze replied followed by a nod from Silver.

With the plan done Tails sighed "Alright, we got our jobs, we do it right, we might get lucky"

"We'll need more than luck" Shadow mumbled

The room was silent hearing him say that. It was too true.

"Well before we get out I'm getting something to eat" Scourge headed for the kitchen, the other remained silent.

Days later…

Fiona arrived back from another scavenging run. She'd done atleast one per day so far. Keeping Tails well supplied for creating what he could. So far he'd been able to build make shift weapons. Knifes strong enough to cut into weak points of eggbots. He had also managed to make home made grenades, usually involving shrapnel, or burning materials she'd been able to scrounge up.

The hardest was finding ways to make guns. Put it lightly, making bullets wasn't an option, atleast not traditional ones. No gun powder to create them. Instead Tails managed to use air pressure. It meant quieter shots, but it meant that they'd have to worry about ammo and air.

Ammo was harder to make though, needed a lot, meaning a lot of time had to be invested into making them. Considering they planned to shoot a lot, that meant even more time. So Tails had to teach Fiona how to make them. When she wasn't scavenging, that was what she was doing.

Unlike normal ammunition which required a hollow area for gun powder they didn't need that. So bullets were simpler to make. Just metal, the hard part was making them able to penetrate armor. Luckily with Tails' tutoring Fiona was able to make that happen.

The two foxes were working at every moment they could, in just a few days both had passed out while working late in the day. It gave Tails a chance to joke about how Fiona was working herself to death.

"Hey I remember you saying something about not working too hard?" he'd just shaken Fiona awake. He had a playful smirk watching as she slowly forced her eyes open.

"Huh?... Wha… oh, dammit I passed out… crap" she rubbed her head, then her eyes forcing herself to wake "Sorry…. How long was I out?"

Tails wasn't upset he was ok with her taking a break. He had been pretty serious when everyone met for the jobs. He wasn't surprised she was working her ass off "It's alright Fi, you're always telling me to get sleep, I can let it slide"

"Thanks" she smiled appreciatively "Just don't want to have too few of these things when the time comes" she grabbed a bullet staring at it.

"I get that"

"Funny" she scoffed "I remember years ago, being told these things weren't are way. Now it's all we have to make all of this right"

"I try not to think about it, all I know is desperate times call for desperate measures. If we need to shoot guns to save the planet, then we have no choice" Tails sighed leaning against the desk.

"We'll have to kill too" Fiona sighed clutching the bullet in her fist and looking up at him.

"There's only two people who need to die" Tails mumbled.

"What do you mean two?" she knew they needed to kill Eggman, who else?

"We have to take down Metal Sonic too"

Fiona just stared at him for a moment contemplating his words and trying to decifer what was going on in his head "You sure that's what you want to do?"

Tails looked down at her "Yes, my friend died a long time ago, what's left of him still flies around. I owe him more, but to finally put him to rest is the best I can do"

Fiona saw that look in his eye and clutched his hand "You don't have to do it alone you know"

He stared back at her but eventually pulled his hand from hers and walked back to his work area. His footsteps were all the noise in the room. She sighed turning back to her own work.….

At the end of the day they had plenty of time, they were safe from Eggman, and Nicole watched the camera replays when she returned with Scourge. From what she said the eggbots were still oblivious to their presence in the city.

Scourge and Nicole spent every day doing as they were assigned. Scourges speed allowed them to cover massive distances with ease. It was nice to travel around, it was better than being couped up in the HQ all day. Within days Nicole already saw Scourge was less aggressive from being able to stretch his legs.

Sadly it was also depressing, just the same grey wherever they went. The world truly had been burned to a crisp. It got her depressed easily. She'd followed Sally for years, believed in her leadership and vision for the future. This was quite the opposite. Her hatred for Eggman only got worse over time. She hid it well. She knew all too well that her cheerful attitude was helpful for the rest of the group. Even Silvers chipper nature faltered at times.

"I will get you something to eat" she said to Scourge as they entered the HQ through the tunnels.

"Don't worry about it, you got to carry yourself around. I can do it" Scourge said making his way for the food already.

"Oh well, I just thought maybe you'd want to sit down after all that running" she said.

"You don't need to wait on me Nicky" he said.

"Nicole nodded and went to the main console to look over the days videos.

Scourge made something for himself and sat nearby. This is how they usually came back to the HQ, she'd get to the camera feeds and he'd get something to eat and rest his legs.. Pretty normal, Tails and Fiona were still working. Silver and Blaze came back a little before them and Shadow came back later.

But Scourge found himself wanting to sit next to Nicole today. He dragged a chair over the main console and looked to Nicole.

Her eyes were closed, she didn't react to Scourges approach at all. Her PDA was plugged into the computer so he guessed she was focusing on the recordings.

He looked to the screen and found it quickly fast forwarding through a tape, the time stamp going from morning to later in the day. Not much happened in it, except a patrol passed back far in the background about every two hours.

He sat down and continued to watch, it was better than staring at a wall.

But that got boring too, instead he began looking at Nicole. It occurred to him he'd spent the last several days basically with just her. He'd acknowledged other peoples presence when they came into a room, but generally he'd only spoken with her. Even that was little.

She liked to talk, and she'd been surpsingly quiet when it came to small talk. She mentioned weaknesses she saw, or other stuff based on their job, but no small talk.

Strange, what happened?

During his thoughts the video continued to zip by, but suddenly ended. Scourge barely caught it from the edge of his eyesight and went back to staring at th computers.

The lynxs eyes opened. She quickly noticed the presence next to her "Sourge? What are you doing here?"

"Just staring at the screens" he said in between chewing.

"Oh" she nodded, then sat for a moment quietly.

Once again Scourge found that odd.

Despite his quiet nature he finally asked "Something going on with you?"

"Huh? Oh… no, I am fine" like always her lying wasn't too good, he could see through her easily.

"You've been quiet the last few days" he added trying to coax her into talking.

"Oh well…. I thought you might appreciate the quiet is all"

Once again she was terrible at lying "Hasn't stopped ya before Nicky"

She was quiet, he could see the gear spinning as she debated whether she should say what it was or not. But he patiently waited, continuing to eat.

"Just…" his eyes looked to her as she said her first word hesitantly "… Everything we've seen over the last few days…. Or…. The lack of what we've seen" she looked down into her lap. Her excellent posture faltering.

"Sally was so hopeful for this world. That it's natural beauty would live on forever. I used to think like a computer until she showed me the beauty this world had to offer. Since then I've fought for that, fought for the people, my friends and continued beauty of the world. Believing in Sally's dream for this planet….. but now…. It all was burned away in a matter of hours"

Scourge listened, he wasn't sure what to say, but she kept speaking, digital tears escaping her eyes "And worse of all, I was left here to be safe while all my friends…. My best friends, died without me…. I failed them all…"

Tears fell from her eyes and landed in her lap. They were all gone and she had been safe, why did Sally keep her here?

Scourge had to think quick, what could he say? He sucked at this stuff.

"Hey, hey" he reached out quicker than he meant to taking her closest hand…. Then froze. What should he say?

"I am sorry I have lost my composure again…. I don't know what came over me" she sniffed wiping away tears thinking Scourge was trying to tell her to just calm down.

"Nah… it's ok… I…" he looked away trying to think of the next word "… I don't really know what you're going through… never really fought for the same things as you… or cared for my 'friends" this was a terrible so far "But what could you have done if you had been there?"

"I don't know, but I would have been there" all she cared about was that while her friends suffered she was safe and sound.

"But then you might not be here…. You know…. Helping us…." What else could he say?

Her breath shuddered still upset, but her jaw clenched and the sound of air forced through teeth filled his ears "All I keep thinking about is them dying, and then all I want is to see Eggman die too!"

Well… that wasn't what Scourge expected she was, angry. It must have really been messing with. But anger was something he knew, revenge was something he knew.

"We'll make him pay then. We'll hurt him like he hurt you and your friends, got it"

Her breathing steadied, she slowly nodded. Her head lifted, the tears slowly stopping. She then looked directly at Scourge and extended an arm out. She cupped a cheek with her hand "Don't get hurt again, ok?"

He just stared at her digital eyes, they were starting to get familiar…. He nodded though. Her hand slid away from his face and she looked back to the screens keeping quiet, her posture back to normal, even the tears stains on her dress were gone. She probably made them go away. Her smile was back, nothing broke that smile for long It was like nothing happened.

Shadow just did his job, he was more efficient than Nicole and Scourge. Nobody to talk to, and his 'get the job done' attitude kept him constantly moving forward.

He didn't speak to the others too often, his mind was on finding a good target. So he usually woke first, left first, and came back last. He usually was only seen to eat.

Nobody minded, at the end of the day he was working, doing his job. That's all they truly needed of him.

Silver Blaze worked together to find a hiding place. It was quite hard, they weren't as fast as Scourge and Shadow, but they had to find hidden places… which were hard to find. Silver was less patient than Blaze, and usually came back complaining about their lack of success. To make things worse they'd find places, but not suitable enough to be used.

Due to Silvers impatience he was getting more and more tense. Everyone was on edge and someone complaining didn't help. So Blaze took him aside everyday to teach him how to calm himself and meditate. Techniques she'd learned to control her fire better and her own temper.

"Calm your mind Silver, take a deep breath and try to think of something relaxing, once you have think of nothing" Blaze said. She was sitting cross legged in front of Silver who was doing the same.

"Think of nothing? I'm not sure how one can think of nothing? The closest thing to nothing I can think of is darkness… and that's not calming"

Blaze sighed then chuckled. His active mind would make this a hard task for him to achieve, but it was charming in a way. As he explained his thoughts on what nothing could be. He just talked, about himself, about thing, about anything. It was hard to be bored with him sitting next to you since he always had something to say.

"What's so funny?"

"It's just you always find a way to turn something into a conversation" she explained adjusting how she was sitting a little.

"Oh… uhh, sorry" he frowned feeling like he was wasting time while she tried to teach him something.

"No it is alright" she replied with a smile "I'm just not used to someone being so open like you are. I got used to Marine, who is always an endless conversation, but usually she doesn't give me a chance to talk. Her topics of conversation are also usually less mature"

Silver smiled "I can't really imagine you travelling with such a young girl and not getting annoyed by her"

"You would be correct, when I first met her I could barely stand her presence for a few minutes. But I guess she grew on me. She has proved to be very resourceful when things go right for her. She is also a capable captain of her own ship. Though she is absent minded, and rarely thinks before she speaks or acts. I've tried my best to teach her to get over those habits"she frowned and her ears curled back sadly "I hope she has not done anything rash in my absence, I couldn't bear to see her hurt"

Silver frowned, Blaze showing some vulnerability? It was strange. Clearly marine was a good friend, and since she never really spoke of anyone he assumed she was her only friend.

"If you taught her, than I bet she can handle herself" Silver tried to comfort her, what little he could say or do atleast.

"I hope you are correct" she continued to frown though "The only way to know for sure is to get the sol emeralds back and go home"

Hearing that reminded Silver she wasn't of this universe. She'd have to go home…. And what about him? Would he go, would he stay? Would she even allow him to go?

It was irrational thinking, and something he knew he should not think about. There was no guarantee they'd even get that far. Why would he even worry? He didn't know, he just did.

"We'll do everything in our power to make that happen" Silver smiled "You'll see Marine again, I promise"

For a moment Blaze didn't do much, her eyes just drifted down to the floor. Perhaps she was trying to hide her face. He wouldn't know why if that were the reason.

Though when she lifted her head to reveal her face it was a thankful smile "Thank you Silver, it is good to hear you say that. I bet you'd like Marine" she reached out and held his hand "Though I am not sure what her opinion of us would be?"

Silver chuckled nervously "Well if she's younger than I'd assume she'd think we'd have cooties?"

Blaze let out a giggle "Ah yes, I believe she has said something like that whenever she warns me about finding a mate"

Both chuckled but Blaze got up and sat in the hedgehogs lap, she made him wrap his arms around her then sighed "I do not know what cooties do but I don't think I mind them"

 **Ok sorry for the delay I lost my muse, and been sleeping bad. As in I wasn't getting enough of it on purpose. Been feeling like I need to be awake and spend more time away and not at work so I sacrifice sleep time.**

 **Anyway, I won't annoy you with excuses, just know this story isn't dead yet. I'll be working I promise.**

 **Live long and prosper**

 **Admiralkirk**


	41. The final plan

**A/N I'm really sorry this took so long. I think the passion to write is gone, sorry about that. Yes I hate myself for it.**

"How long have we been going around trying to find a good hiding spot now?" Silver groaned. His feet were sore, and after days and days of walking his boots were covered in ash and dirt.

Blaze wasn't too much better, her shoes and lower pants had gotten covered in the same dust. She ignored it, unlike Silver. He got frustrated by it, the shoes being one of his few real possessions he'd had in his life.

"I'd rather not try and count it out" Blaze replied. She'd learned patience quite well in her life time, but even she was beginning to have a hard time avoiding getting frustrated.

Silver groaned and kicked at a rock as he passed it "We've found a bunch of caves, but the eggbots patrol by them, almost like they know to keep an eye on it"

"Yes, it seems Eggman has grown a large amount of paranoia during his two year rule" Blaze groaned.

"You can say that again" Silver sighed. He then asked "If we can't even find a place that's out of the way and safe from Eggmans eyes, then I can only imagine how impregnable his base is"

"Well, we've got the smartest people here to find a way to get in. So I'm sure we'll get something" Blaze tried to be positive. If the combined effort of Tails, Nicole and Shadow couldn't find a way through, then it truly was impossible.

"I hope you're right" Silver sighed.

Usually he was the one who was the optimist, but the last few days of searching everywhere and finding nothing was wearing on him badly.

It didn't help that the entire team was counting on them. They were the first step, if they couldn't find a hiding place then they simply couldn't move forward with the plan. It was too much pressure.

The duo had been walking for half the day. The sun was pretty bad today, nothing was going well today. The land was flat, they could see for miles. The air was dry, and both would really appreciate some water or shade.

"Is it hotter than no-AH!" Silver suddenly fell and began falling into gorge.

Blaze was quick, but not quick enough to grab him, he was clear out of reach before she even reach out to him.

She cried out worried he'd be hurt, but before the idea of him dying could pass through her mind she saw him glowing green and stop falling.

It took her half a second, but she remembered that Silver could make himself fly using his own powers on himself. She sighed in relief seeing he was ok.

"You ok?" maybe slipping off hurt his ankle or something.

"I'm fine, but where'd this gorge come from?" Silver asked looking around.

Blaze shrugged "Perhaps the heat dulled out senses"

"I guess so…. Hey, speaking of this gorge, I think I see a cave down there" Silver exclaimed suddenly excited.

"Really, help me down, we'll see if it is what we need"

Silver nodded and floated her down to his level, then they both descended to the bottom of the canyon.

At the bottom, the two stared at the large entrance. Definetly a big enough opening from what Tails wanted. And since it was pitch black they assumed it went deeper.

"I think we just found what we're looking for" Silver said, heavy relief in his voice.

"Yes, I believe this is the perfect place. The Eggbots probably don't come down here, plus it's off the normal patrol routes.

"This must be what we've been looking for then. We got to head back and tell everyone" Silver exclaimed excited to get going.

"Yes, let us get moving, we need to inform everyone" the cat nodded.

Within a few moments they were out of the gorge and began heading back. Finally, they could really get started.

"This gonna be great, everyones gonna be super excited" Silver cheered.

His happy attitude was back, Blaze liked that, it just felt different when he was starting to lose hope. With everyone slowly losing patience from being so pent up, Silvers ongoing good attitude kept her own spirits up. With this new discovery, it was higher than it had been in awhile.

Yes not since she was freed from her prison and realized her saviors were actually people had she been in such high spirits.

The two headed back for HQ. Both of them were sure that the rest of the team would be ecstatic to hear they found a place to hide anything they needed. They'd probably be back late in the day, better get moving now.

"You think we should run?" Silver asked, well more like fly in his case.

"No need to waste energy, everyone is working right now and will arrive after we get back even if we walk" Blaze replied "If trouble comes our way we'll need our strength" she continued.

Silver nodded seeing that as a reasonable assessment "Hey maybe we'll do something special to celebrate" Silver sort of side stepped, the normal bounce in his step continuing to show. Finding that cave had gotten him excited again. They could finally get this train rolling.

Blaze couldn't help but smile at him, his excitement and demeanor being infectious. Strange? Was she bouncing a little with her step too? Well that surprised her? Her upbringing compelled her to be proper, even the simple act of walking had to be done with perfection. Now she was breaking her own upbringing, she found it… relaxing.

"And what exactly could we do that's special?" she asked. Their rations were rather boring and not much leeway for preparing it differently.

"Well maybe we could have a bit of a party?" Silver now walking backwards looking at the cat.

"A party? Aren't parties loud?" she asked back, they had to be quiet or risk being detected.

"Ya well…" he scratched his quills "We could keep the music down and make sure Scourge doesn't start yelling" he shrugged while grinning clearly his answer wasn't that serious.

"The music, perhaps, but keeping Scourge quiet, fantasy" Blaze joked back.

Silver chuckled but shrugged again "Ah, well he's been pretty good at that recently"

"That is true, he's been quiet. Kept to himself mostly" Blaze agreed.

Silver briefly looked like he was trying to remember then said "Well Nicole talks to him sometimes. She seems to have decided to keep him company a lot"

Blaze nodded, though her face wasn't as amused as his "Yes, I find it rather strange. I knew Nicole back then, I'm rather surprised she spends so much time with him. They just feel like total opposites"

"Hey if it works then it works. Who are we to argue when it's keeping him quiet, and more importantly keeping his temper down"

Blaze had to agree with that and nodded, though went silent clearly thinking.

"Something on your mind?" the white hedgehog asked.

"I started thinking about Tails and Fiona, they seem to be working well together. Tails is less agitated now than when we met him" Blaze recalled when she met with them and was freed.

"You have no idea, when Shadow and I met them they could barely stand being near one another. Tails had that look in his eye that gave me chills. Like at any second he'd blow her head off. Shadow had told me tales of a kind fox who couldn't hurt people, even if they hurt him like she did. But when we reached his bunker Shadow warned me to be extra careful what I did. I think he could see the fire in his eyes as well" Silver recalled back then as well. There were already large differences between Tails now and the Tails back then a few weeks ago.

Blaze tried to imagine Tails in such an angry state. She, just like Shadow remembered quite a different boy, the man she met after all those years was drastically different.

She stepped from those thoughts and said "But back to my original point, it made me think of Shadow"

"What about him?" Silver asked, a little confused. He didn't seem to different.

"He seems far more focused. He's subtle about it. I just get this sense that something else is driving him" Blaze thought back to a few days ago. He once again returned with nothing to really report and seemed angry. He was one of the most composed of the group. He even seemed to slowly take on a role of second in command to Tails.

She even recalled Shadow offer words of wisdom and keeping Tails on track with their goals.

"Well he basically ran the camp we lived in. He basically supervised everything that happened in that town. He's learned to work with people much better and keep priorities in check" Silver explained.

"perhaps that is it" Blaze shrugged.

Both went silent for a time until Silver said "I got a way to pass the time, I spy with my little eye something that is… grey"

Blaze groaned, it would be a long walk…

Hours later the duo finally returned to Metropolis, it's destroyed remains constantly reminding them of all the people who died. No amount of good news could make them forget that. Only entering one of the tunnels would save them from that sadness.

So they quickly found one of the entrances to the escape tunnels and made their way back to HQ.

Like always Silver went up through the hatch to enter the building first and offering a hand to Blaze, she'd take it and get hoisted back up to his level, but instead of reporting nothing the duo went to find Tails immediately.

That wasn't a hard task, he was in the workshop, like always working on stuff. Fiona had taken a break for now so it was just him. Blaze knocked on the door and within a few moment the fox answered.

"Hey, anything to report?" he asked not really expecting anything. Clearly he didn't notice the smile they had plastered on their face.

"Actually we do have something to report" Blaze started.

"We found a cave!" Silver said excitedly.

The foxes ears perked up almost immediately "You did, that's great! It's well hidden right?"

They nodded.

"And large enough o store anything we need?" he asked further.

They nodded again.

"And you're sure it's out of the way of patrols?"

Silver scoffed "Come on Tails, we've been turning down places for days, we found a good one ok?"

"Just making sure, that's all" Tails said, a little annoyed by Silvers response. Though he didn't voice his opinion about it. "Go give the coordinates to Nicole, now all we need is a target to hit. I'll have to go to Eggmans base and scope it out as well and…." His speech devolved into mumbling as he thought and stepped away from the duo. He was now officially in his head thinking things over so Blaze and Silver assumed the conversation was over.

So the two left and Silver realized "So what are we gonna do everyday now that we did our job?" it would be pretty boring if they were stuck here now.

Blaze thought over that question as well but replied "I could try teaching you to meditate again?"

"Ya that would take up a lot of time for sure" Silver joked about himself.

The jest against himself made Blaze chuckle lightly "But I'm sure you could do it in time" she encouraged.

"Well, I got to relax my mind, and with everything going on I doubt I really could" he admitted.

"Anything in particular troubling you?" Blaze asked, if he was having a hard time focusing perhaps some talking would help.

"Just…. Doubting whether we can actually beat Eggman… and if we do what will we have to sacrifice to do it" Silver may have been hopeful, energetic and excited but he carried very real doubts. They were taking on an empire, and they were just seven people. There wasn't much chance they could get through this unscathed on the other side.

"Silver you can't think about that kind of stuff" Blaze said softly, admittedly she also worried "There might be few of us, but there is always a chance we can win. We have Tails and Shadow thinking up ideas on how we can win. They're both smart and can make brilliant plans. If anyone can make the perfect plan it's those two"

"But even the most perfect of plans can go wrong" Silver frowned "I just…. I don't know what I'd do if any of us were killed. Shadows been a mentor to me and you…" he paused looking at her with sad eyes "I'd die before I see you get caught again, or killed" he admitted.

It was true, the hedgehog already risked himself to save her before. When metal Sonic attacked he stood in the way even when he knew Metal's plating would make his powers useless.

Blaze just stared at him and after a few moments of silence she wrapped him in a gentle hug "Don't say things like that, I don't want to think about that" she whispered softly. She was very composed and in control of her thoughts for the most part. She'd kept those thoughts away, except when Silver got himself hurt for her. She hated thinking about him being killed, and if it was for her, she'd feel too guilty.

"I'm sorry" he mumbled

Blaze nuzzled into him "It's alright" she reassured him.

They soon had to end the hug. Blaze quickly tried to think of a way to lighten the mood. But Silver beat her to it.

"Hey, maybe some food will make us feel better?"

She nodded, food was always nice after walking all day.

Elsewhere in HQ…

Fiona made her way back to the workshop, man this was getting monotonous. Everyday was the same thing, work in the workshop to either make ammo, or making the HQ more homey. She couldn't blame anyone, they were doing their best. Unknown to her progress was finally made and she'd soon hear about it.

She had passed by Blaze and Silver on the way back, they looked a little different today, less tired? Eh whatever, not her business.

She reached the door and knocked before coming inside. Immediately she noticed Tails was pacing back and forth thinking about things. Usually he was focusing on work. So something happened.

"What'cha thinking about?" she asked walking further into the room.

"Blaze and Silver just came back, they found a cave that's hidden, away from patrols and large enough to store anything inside" he explained.

"They did, finally some progress" Fiona was relieved, some good news was already lifting her spirits.

"Now that we have a place to put things, we can looking at potential targets. Scourge, Shadow and Nicole have been doing that for days now, we got plenty of targets. Just need to work with Shadow and Nicole to figure out which ones would be easy yet worthwhile to raid" he continued to think aloud and explain at the same time.

"Great, so go talk to them both once Shadow come back" Fiona shrugged.

"Ya I'll do that" he nodded back still thinking. He'd spent some time looking at targets already and was now thinking on the ones he could remember at the moment.

Fiona could see the spark in his eyes, that hadn't been there for a few days. Guess standing idle like that had made him sort of turn off. But it was good to see him using his head again. Just had to wait for Shadow and the real planning could begin.

So Fiona just got back to work while Tails ran ideas through his head. For the most part the sounds of Fiona's work was all that could be heard. Tails wasn't even angry about the noise, he was far too focused to be distracted by her work.

Eventually Shadow came to the door of the workshop, he'd done his work for the day and went to report into Tails, like always.

He was about to speak but Tails cut him off "Silver and Blaze found a cave to hide everything"

Well that definetly got his attention "They did? Good"

Tails just walked to the door to leave and said "Come on, we got to figure out what we're gonna hit, I'm sure there's atleast one place we can reasonably attack" he said.

Shadow followed agreeing with making a plan sooner rather than later. With him Gone Fiona was left alone who mumbled "Don't even say hi…"

The males headed over to the computer an immediately began going through files and notes made by Nicole.

They started with separating the worst facilities, or one they were sure wouldn't have things they needed.

"So what equipment will we need?" Tails asked him and Shadow.

"That depends on what our plan is to take on the Dr" Shadow replied.

Tails thought that over and said "I'm going to have to look over Eggmans base then. If I can find any weaknesses I'll take advantage"

"That would be a good idea" Shadow agreed with a quick nod "Maybe you should do that tonight? Getting so close to his main compound would be easier under the cloak of darkness"

"Ya, I think I'll do that" the younger fox agreed.

Behind them Nicole and Scourge entered the room and saw the two males mumbling to eachother over the computer. This immediately tipped them off that something was up.

"What are you two doing?" Scourge asked bluntly.

Tails turned his head swiftly to the new voices, when he realized it was Scourge and Nicole he looked back to the screens "Blaze and Silver found a suitable cave so now Shadow and I are trying to choose our next move"

Nicole visibly got excited "They did, that is wonderful, what do you plan to do now?"

Shadow answered "I suggested he scout out Eggmans fortress tonight, so he can devise a plan of attack. Then attack a smaller facility for the equipment we'll need to set the plan in motion"

Nicole smiled "That is a good idea!"

"Then I will start getting my stuff right now" Tails began walking back to his workshop where all his equipment was left.

Scourge watched the younger fox walk out of the room and huffed "Well hopefully that means we can stop running around looking at facilities all day, about damn time" He looked to his jacket and shoes "Look all covered in dust from running all day, everyday"

Despite his complaining, which nobody really cared for Shadow had to agree, though he put a hand on his bad leg massaging it a little. A futile action to stem the pain, but it was beginning to become subconscious.

Scourge of course didn't really care to notice, but Nicole did and asked "Are you alright?"

Shadows hand looked to the linx, a little surprised by her question feeling it was unprovoked. That is until he realized he was rubbing his leg. He pulled it away and shook his head "Fine, I'm fine"

Nicole looked unconvinced but she didn't push the subject "Ok, just making sure" she pretended to believe him.

Scourge was done kicking off all the dust his could from his shoes and said "Well I'm hungry" walking towards the kitchen. Nicole held her PDA in her own hands so him leaving didn't effect her.

Nicole began to follow but stopped and saw Shadow once again rubbing his leg, she didn't ask this time but simply said "Get some rest"

The dark hedgehog neither denied anything was wrong nor agreed and simply made a sound to acknowledge he atleast heard her.

A few hours later…

Tails was back in his full gear, minus his mask. The armor had been collecting on the shelf and a little was still on it despite it finally being moved.

Fiona was fastening the last piece they had just put on and grunted "Man, how'd you get this thing on before I showed up?"

Tails smiled "Very carefully" Adjusting his gloves a little.

She made a quick chuckle and wiped off some dust from the larger shoulder pad and said "You be careful out there alright?"

"I survived on my own for 2 years, I do a simple walk through the dark" he boasted.

Fiona rolled her eyes crossing her arms "Just promise to be careful"

Tails nodded, his cocky smile disappearing "Ya, I promise"

"I know you can handle yourself Tails, but I still worry when you have no backup at night and close to Eggmans fortress"

Tails had to nod again seeing her point "I'll make sure to keep my eyes and ears open"

"Oh and don't be afraid to call for help if you need it" Fiona grabbed his shoulder.

Tails looked back and found her normal . calm and beautiful face was filled with worry. He frowned turning to her "Fi, you worry too much"

"I don't think I am, you're gonna just stroll over to Eggmans largest stronghold, the heart of his empire. If even one thing goes wrong you're most likely dead" Fiona explained looking very worried.

Tails sighed looking away for a moment "I know, but I don't want to bring any if you to your deaths either"

"If you die then this whole cause goes down"

"What!?" Tails said in surprise "No that's not true, you'll all still be here"

"Yes, but without you we lose our best plan maker, we lose the guy who can make the best equipment, and if that's not enough we lose one of the seven people on the team. We're already up against impossible odds, losing someone else would make it that much harder"

Tails groaned rolling eyes, but his face went back to a frown "Thanks…. No pressure"

"I'm sorry…." Fiona sighed slowly wrapping her arms around him.

He did the same "I'll be careful, I promise"

She smiled lightly and kissed his cheek "Ok, just get back here, and good luck" she slowly ended the hug. She looked into his eyes for a moment.

Tails did the same but he eventually turned away "Ok, see you later Fi" he tried to act natural now, have a little bit of confidence. Like Sonic. It didn't work very well, his drooping ears gave it away.

He placed the helmet over his head and the slightly filtered voice said "I'll be back" And with that he went outside the workshop to the escape tunnel entrance.

Along the way the rest of the team wished him luck, he was far more confident with them though. He made it to the hatch and went down and began his journey.

He soon left the tunnels and moved away from the city.

Night soon came and Tails turned on his night vision. There was nobody around so he kept going.

It was a lonely walk, reminded him of his time before Fiona found him. When he always walked alone. It felt weird to be alone again. He'd been alone for years, he'd left behind his friends and family. His anger kept him from noticing how lonely he was. Now that it was all gone there was nothing to distract his mind. He remembered what it was like to have friends again…. To be loved.

Now walking alone truly felt lonely, empty. He had a mission and he had friends to go back to if he was able to get this done. So that kept him going. For hours into the night he continued to walk, jog and run full speed. He had to reach the base before sunrise.

His lungs stung and his tails hurt badly from constant use, but he had learned to ignore the pain. Not that he didn't know his limit, he could keep this up longer.

Further he went until he could finally see the lights coming off the fortress, right where he saw it last time, nearly two years ago. In a lot of ways, it didn't change, still overly large, heavily fortified and seemingly impenetrable.

Beyond the outer defenses large walls surrounded the main fort, with one main gate leading inside. Along the walls were even more automated defenses and patrolling eggbots. There were so many turrets, rockets, and bots. There was no way they could get through it all.

The inner fort was tall and could easily look down all along the landscape. Once more the turrets were present along with eggbot snipers.

There had to be a way to bypass all that… or there was simply no hope.

Maybe…. Maybe they could steal a driller and tunnel under it all?

He shook his head thinking of that, not only would that be slow…. But it would set off a ton of seismic sensors, with all those above ground defenses he was pretty sure Eggman was paranoid enough to have underground detection.

"Ok, find some alternatives" he mumbled to himself.

He nearly went into deep thought when some loose stones moved behind him. In an instant he turned on his cloak and looked back. In the darkness about twenty meters away a patrol of Eggbots were just coming over the small hill. Those loose stones were his saving grace.

Still as a prey mantis he watched as the patrol walked closer, but he just couldn't move. They were so close any form of shifting in the quiet night would give him away.

The patrol just barely passed to his right, the stomping feet shaking the ground he sat upon.

Then suddenly he felt a foot step on his hand, god he never bit his tongue harder. He nearly let out the smallest of grunts but he grit his teeth and held down any noise.

The foot left his hands and the patrol walked away, his hand pulsed in numb pain.

"God dammit" he hissed softly his helmet keeping it from travelling too far "Son of a-….. Just get back to work"

Where was he? Oh right, bypassing the defenses…. No under ground…. What about….

Tails looked to the sky.

"Yes that could work, I mean, there's airships and fighters and other stuff, but Shadow could teleport us to the top of the fort, we find a door or hatch and boom we're inside. Just need to do a little more studying"

He pulled out a scanner aiming towards the base trying to pick up anything else useful. Most of it was stuff he knew probably existed already but one thing caught his attention.

"Some kind of chaos field… now it's different" he growled lightly in frustration, something was up… wait?

"It's an anti chaos field" Tails realized "No, how big could it be?"

He scanned around and realized it engulfed the entire fortress, even the outer defenses, but how high?

He looked up with the scanner and discovered it extremely high, they'd need more than a few seconds to find a hatch. They'd have to free fall through Eggmans entire fleet.

He shook his head "No, it's too far…. No wait….. I got it!"

 **Ok guys I'm super sorry I've been gone so long. I think I just kinda lost the spark to write. So I'm gonna just say, don't be hopeful for me to pick up again.**

 **My real problem was that I knew what I wanted to do at the end of the story but I didn't quite know how to get there. Unfortunatly that's how I kinda self blocked myself. So I'm accelerating it. The original plan is there but I'm just gonna cut it down….. assuming I can finish more.**

 **So here we go, gonna get this final battle going, and the other stuff I wanted to do, then find a nice place to end it all.**

 **So until next and live long and prosper. Once again sorry for the massive delay.**

 **Admiralkirk**


	42. Final preperation

**A/N Ok so here we go, we're gonna get this going to the end. About time, I say. Thanks for the encouraging words as well. This story has become my most reviewed story. So thank you for all the reviews.**

"This is an insane plan you know" Shadow sighed.

"Hard to believe, but I agree with Gloomy" Scourge nodded pinching his nose "Crazier than letting me on the team" he added.

"It can work, with some luck prescision we can do this, it only needs a small amount of preparation too. It's simple, that's why it can work" Tails defended himself.

"But if one thing is wrong then it all falls apart" Blaze replied also agreeing this was insane.

"If I had said any kind of plan would have agreed? We're attacking the strongest fortress Eggman has ever created, filled with possibly thousands of eggbots, any plan would be insane. We have to be unpredictable to make this work" Tails said in frustration. He couldn't blame them though.

Shadow just made a heavy sigh, despite his objections he said "It's a crazy plan but he's right…. Eggman has defended himself from everything logical, illogical is the only thing he anticipate"

"So we searched for days for that cave for no reason?" Silver groaned.

Fiona shrugged with a smile "I guess it was, but atleastyou got to walk, keep yourself healthy. I got stuck making bullets all day"

"Atleast some of us will be using those bullets" Silver mumbled a little angry all that effort went to nothing.

Nicole had been in thought absorbing and analyzing Tails' plan, she hoped to think of something that could help make the plan easier then finally said "I could build some new copies of myself. So everyone can use them to hack the base if need be"

Shadow nodded in agreement scratching his chin "If we get separated at some point that would be useful, and…. If the first part fails, atleast Nicole will be safe and not captured"

Scourge seemed to perk up hearing that "Ya, we should do that"

"I'll need to make some equipment for Silver and I" Tails added "I can easily make what I need"

"Anything else we should do?" Silver asked.

"Just prepare yourself" Tails said making his way to the workshop.

Silver rolled his eyes scoffing, but gave his suggestion a serious thought; ya mentally preparing himself would be a good idea. Silver looked to Blaze and they both agreed to go somewhere for some quiet.

Nicole got to work making mini copies of herself. She had actually been planning on doing this already, so there were already some half finished devices.

"So how exactly are you gonna copy yourself?" Scourge asked scratching his nose "Shadow told me that when Tails wanted to bring his mom with us she said it would take possibly days to copy her"

Nicole nodded sadly remembering back then, despite the time it still felt kinda fresh, a reminder that at any moment their new home could come tumbling down, and this time they'd have nowhere to go and eggbots surrounded them in this city.

"No, I won't be making exact copies, more like simplistic copies, they'll have my hacking protocols and basic personalities" she explained beginning to build the most complete device, they were crude looking and were meant to be able to fit inside a pocket. The one she was working on was nearly complete, she just needed to add a screen, then download a copy of herself to the device.

So there will be like five of you?" Scourge asked eyebrow raised.

"I guess that's a way to look at it" Nicole shrugged.

Scourge smirked "Can ya make my copy wear something sexy"

Nicole flinched then blushed "W-well I-I…"

Scourge smirked and said "Was joking Nikki"

She blushed more "Oh…. Yes… of course" her hand was shaking a little, why?

Scourge walked off and sat on a chair closing his eyes after that. Looked like he was attempting to nap. So atleast it was quiet and Nicole was able to recover and get back to work. She had a question for the green hedgehog, but it took her half an hour to finally ask.

"What do you plan to do if we make it through this?"

Scourge apparently had just been resting and not napping and hummed in thought for a moment "I don't know" was his simple response.

"You don't?" she turned.

"What? You think anyone else knows what they are gonna do after this. We're all going in against near impossible odds. It's easier to just focus on the here and now than make plans for a future you may not be in" Scourge surprisingly explained.

Nicole didn't quite get it, maybe because she wasn't like them and could think at much higher speeds, but she'd thought about the future. Though she did come up with a few options she hadn't really chosen one yet.

"But if we win you'll have to make a choice, have you atleast thought of any ideas to choose from?"

"Nah…. What I do anyway?" Scourge asked eyeing her as he did "Moebius wants me dead if I ever came back, the people hate me here, I'm essentially an interdemensional fugitive as well, so tell me what I could do besides go back on the run"

"Stay with us and help us keep the peace" Nicole suggested like it was simple.

Scourge scoffed "This world knows who I am, who's gonna trust me?"

"One of us will stay with you and reassure everyone that you are with us" she turned to him stopping her work for a moment.

Once again he scoffed "Somehow that would fail, that'd be my luck"

Scourge sat deeper into his chair still facing away from the lynx. She was quiet for a moment then walked over to him. She was quiet and he didn't seem to hear her. So when she stood just behind him she gently put her hands on his shoulders. He made a very distinct flinch from the contact.

"You would never know unless you tried" she took a breath then continued "Take it from me, earning their trust may be a life long endeavor, but it's all worth it when someone smiles at you once in awhile. When the threats become less common" she frowned remembering those old days.

"You have the excuse that you were corrupted and forced to serve unwillingly" Scourge dismissed what she was saying "I'm just a bad, no excuse" he crossed his arms.

She sighed kneading his shoulders a little "That did not stop people from threatening me, from fearing I could be changed again even though my firewalls were reinforced and upgraded. For months I was afraid to walk through the city, even with friends, because I didn't want to see the angry faces, hear the angry voices. But I never stopped trying to make up for what I did. Even when council fully disconnected me from the city systems, leaving me with only enough nano-bots to make my physical form"

Her eyes were tearing up a little, it had been so painful knowing an entire city she had devoted her life to protecting turned on her without hesitation, and the years of torment didn't help. She atleast had friends by her side who cared, it was all that kept her going sometimes. If she couldn't find a reason to fight for the people, she could atleast find a reason to fight with her friends.

"You should have taken back all your nanobots when you had the chance" Scourge grumbled. It's what he would have done, why help those who didn't appreciate it?

Nicole surprisingly made a coughing chuckle just as her tears started choking her up "I thought of doing that, but if I wanted their trust, would taking revenge change anything for the better?"

Scourge went quiet not wanting to answer.

Nicole just smiled her tears stopping as she finished up her tale "Years later after I'd protected the city with the Freedom fighters I slowly noticed threats stopping, I was able to go out more. Eventually I felt like people wouldn't look at me with distrust as much. Even had a little girl tell me that she thought I was a good person and what happened was an accident"

Scourges ears flicked a little listening to her tale, he didn't say anything, just thinking over her words.

"You just need to keep trying, it may take five, ten or even all your life, but eventually people will start to turn around….. you just need patience" Her hands let go of his shoulders and turned to get back to work.

Scourge just sat in silence, he didn't look back, nor did he speak. He was too deep in thought.

Elsewhere…

Silver and Blaze had left to try meditating, they'd been trying for half an hour but Silver continued to show no signs of being able to do it. Blaze was very patient, she'd already explained that it took her years to do it right. She put no pressure on Silver to figure it out. Especially since she knew he had an active mind.

Silver took a deep breath and tried again to clear his mind, even for a second but some knocking filled his ears. Due to it being so quiet it made him jump in fright. He opened his eyes initially thinking it was Blaze doing something but found her looking to doorway , so he looked that way.

Standing in the door =way was Shadow.

"Oh hey Shadow, what brings you here?" Silver asked as he got to his feet.

"You" he replied.

"Me?" the younger male asked a little confused "I didn't do anything wrong did I?" was he about to be scolded for complaining about his comments on the cave?

"Yes" he nodded back "Blaze I would appreciate speaking with him privately"

Whatever was going on in her head she didn't show it, but nodded "Of course" granting him his request.

She shot Silver a quick glance before walking out of the room and passing by Shadow. When she was gone Shadow walked into the room approaching the white hedgehog.

Silver was admittedly a little scared, despite being on better terms than most people with the infamous hedgehog he still found himself anxious when he wanted to speak to him privately.

So before Shadow could speak Silver asked "Did I do something wrong?"

Shadow stopped in front of him hands linked behind his back, his face was very hard to read. Silver hated that, even after all this time working with him he still couldn't read him a lot of the time.

To his surprise Shadow shook his head and smiled, amused that he thought he was in trouble "No, nothing like that"

"Oh" his shoulders loosened up in relief.

Once again Shadow was quiet just staring at Silver for a few moment, his gaze wasn't hard like it usually was, but soft but also…. Worried.

"We've come a long way"

"Huh? Oh, ya. I guess we have" Silver said shrugging "It's been quite a ride"

"Yes… it's been… an experience" Shadow said choosing his words carefully.

Silver just nodded not sure what was going on.

Shadow let out a long breath from his nose then said "It's going to be over soon…. One way or another"

"Don't worry, if anyone can do it, we can" Silver said wondering if Shadow was having doubts.

"We're the only ones who can do it" Shadow looked away for a moment.

It was quiet, yet again so Silver scratched his cheek nervously and asked "If you don't mind me asking, but what's up? You're acting weird"

Shadow look at the younger hedgehog and sighed "Silver…" he stood up straight "I just wanted you to know, no matter what happens. I'm proud of you"

Well he hadn't been expecting that, it was so out of character for Shadow to say like that, why was he doing this?

"I…. thanks…. But is this coming from?"

Shadow seemed a little annoyed that Silver kept asking questions, it was already strange to be saying that, now he had to talk more after that.

"Silver, we're about to under go a mission so dangerous even I'm afraid of what will happen. I just wanted to tell you something I've been meaning to tell you for awhile. I am thankful and proud of you. You've come so far since the day I saw you attempt to protect our people" Shadow explained.

"I-it was nothing I was just-"

"It was not nothing, it's take a special person to risk their own life for others as you have. When we started working together you were uncoordinated, clumsy, inexperienced and more of a burden than help at times"

"Are you motivating me or putting me down" Silver asked jokingly hearing the not so great part of his speech. Shadows un-amused stare shut him up.

"But now you are strong, confident, and you've shown me just how far you are willing to go to protect others"

Silver recalled back to when he nearly was killed protecting Blaze, or when he kept everyone safe during the ambush.

"In less than two years you've progressed so far, and if we make it through this I know you'll do your best to keep people safe. So I am proud of you Silver, I wanted you to know that before it's too late"

Silver looked at Shadow not sure what to say, he'd never thought he'd hear such things from Shadow. But despite that hearing it all made him smile.

"Thanks…. You were a great teacher. You did everything to make me ready. So thank you for being patient, I know I pissed you off sometimes…. But thank you for helping me reach my true potential" he did a light bow to his teacher when he was done.

Shadow smiled back, but suddenly Silver pulled him into a hug. Shadow was not expecting it but oddly didn't push him off. Silver was nice though and broke it quickly.

Shadow fixed his quills and fur clearing his throat "Well…. I'll…. Let you get back to, whatever it was you were doing"

"Ya, thanks" Silver smiled watching his mentor leave the room regaining his composure, but stopped. He looked back at Silver then the door, then back at him "And I'm glad you found someone who makes you happy" he nodded then left the room.

He left and found Blaze waiting nearby.

"You weren't too hard on him were ya" clearly she believed he'd scolded Silver or something along those lines.

Shadow just chuckled, the smile surprising her "Yes, I wasn't too hard on him" he said walking by.

Blaze was pretty sure now that he hadn't scolded, so what did he do? He wasn't giving any information to her so maybe she could ask Silver. She went back inside and found Silver staring into space smiling. Ok now she knew he hadn't gotten in trouble.

"Hey, so what'd he say?" she asked.

"Huh?" he was knocked out of his daydreaming "Oh, nothing don't worry about it"

Blaze eyed him hands on her hips, a single eyebrow raised. A classic 'I want answers' stance.

Silver just shrugged with a smile refusing to say anything. He knew it was hard for Shadow to say stuff like he just did, so he was gonna stay quiet and save him some embarrassment.

Blaze huffed crossing her arms "Fine be that way"

Elsewhere…

Tails had been working for over an hour making some equipment they may need while attacking Eggmans fortress. All of it was simple stuff. Gas masks, additional pockets on their utility belts to carry more stuff. And anything else that came to mind.

He briefly considered grappling launchers, but only had enough to make two, he had another in his morph gun so that made three.

The gas masks were a bit of a problem, normal ones would cover the entire face incase the gas damaged your eyes as well. But he didn't have the equipment to make glass. So he found goggles and made make shift masks that covered the mouth and nose. That would have to be enough.

As for pockets, that was easy to do. So that wouldn't slow him down too much.

Along side him was Fiona making more bullets, any extra amount would only help. Like Tails had asked none were made with powder, they simply couldn't make gun powder to fire the shots so they would need something else to propel them. In this case pressurized air would do that.

Tails also created some weapons, mostly made of tubes. But Tails had tested them, they'd hold up. Fiona still had her pistols and a few bullets, not enough to last her very long, but she still was gonna take them. The only other fire arms they had was Tails Morph gun and Scourges double barrel.

Scourges weapon also had little ammo, but Tails' weapon was different. It worked on it's own rechargeable energy cartridges that worked with all the modes. Everyone else would have to rely on his make shift weapons.

Silver and Blaze could use their powers and most likely wouldn't be using them often, Scourge had his speed and abilities and would use them less as well. The problem came from Shadow, though he had all the abilities of Scourge, the fortress was surrounded by an anti chaos field.

That meant he'd be unable to use his chaos powers. Shadow was their most powerful member of the team with those powers, but now a lot of his effectiveness would be gone, unless they found a way to shut down the field.

Tails sighed, even with a plan, this would be astronomically difficult and anything could go wrong. Losing Shadows powers would only make it worse.

"You worried?" Fiona asked hearing him sigh and stop working.

"You have no idea" he leaned against his work bench.

"Can't blame ya" she frowned ears drooping "But know we're all choosing to do this"

Tails nodded though still looked quite worried. He felt like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. One mess up, one over sight, one bad turn could mean the end. The last people who could save the planet from Eggman, and save everyone from this hell, gone from one mistake.

Fiona didn't know what to say, what could you say to someone at a time like this. Dammit, she hated to admit it to herself but Sally would know what to say.

She stood up and stood next to him "I'm sorry…. I don't know what to say to help" she sighed rubbing the back of her neck.

"It's ok…. I keep trying to remember what you say but it's still hard. Everything the Freedom fighters fought for is leader to what happens tomorrow. We either make it all worth it or it all goes to a waste"

"It wasn't a waste" Fiona said sternly "If it weren't for them you'd still be an anxious kid with no self confidence. Everything that they did has led to today, because they prepared you for this"

Tails didn't believe that "How'd they prepare me"

"Everyone there was like family to you, friends, and mentors. I saw it. You looked up to all of them, and they were constantly trying to teach you. Sonic boosted your confidence and encouraged you to be the best you could possibly be. Sally taught you patience and thinking about everything when making a decisions. Antoine may have been a coward at first but you watched him as he became a true hero. He showed you anyone can show their courage and be a hero. And Bunny taught you to always be positive and cheerful even in the face of danger" Quite the speech from the female, she hadn't even expected that.

Tails listened, his ear twitched in the silence, he could tell she meant what she said "You're right, I just need to keep focused" his face already showing his mind focusing now.

Fiona just smirked seeing that, something about that face reminded her of the old days when he was younger and was hyper focused on a task to help the team.

"That's what I like to see" she said proudly.

"I'll try my best, thanks" he said getting back to work.

"That's all anyone is asking for… and you're welcome" Fiona nodded. After a few moments she leaned in and kissed his cheek before getting back to work.

Everyone was ready by the end of the day, Nicole had her copies made, Silver and Blaze had been keeping to themselves and keeping their minds clear. Tails made his equipment for everyone and Shadow had simply made sure no last minute attacks came at them. But now it was time to sleep.

Tomorrow would be either begin Eggmans uncontested rule, or end it entirely.

 **So that's the newest chapter, I hope you guys enjoyed this last bit of fluff, from here it will be final mission. So far thanks for holding off with me and my disappearance, hopefully I'll get through the rest of this.**

 **Hope this all goes well, I got some stuff to reveal and hopefully you guys will enjoy it and not hate it.**

 **Live long and prosper**

 **Admiralkirk**


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